D&D Dungeon Magazine #162

ISSUE 162 | JANUARY 2009 ISSUE 162 | JANUARY 2009 A Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game Supplement A Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game Supplement

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, DUNGEON, DRAGON, d20, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, in the U.S.A. and other countries. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, LLC. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. For more DUNGEONS & DRAGONS articles, adventures, and information, visit www.wizards.com/dnd CONTENTS ONTENTS ON THE COVER Illustration by Wayne Reynolds 3 EDITORIAL 103 RULING SKILL CHALLENGES By Mike Mearls Mike continues to educate on the nature of skill challenges, with unique applications and examples. 106 SAVE MY GAME By Stephen Radney-MacFarland A DM’s best friend? Stephen Radney-MacFarland, back with more advice and letters from the mailbag. 109 DUNGEONCRAFT By James Wyatt James discusses the latest changes to his fledgling campaign. 62 DEPTHS OF MADNESS By Robert J. Schwalb The Madness trilogy continues with “Depths of Madness.” After saving the town of Wellspring, the heroes find that their efforts have not stopped the assault on the town. A new threat has emerged, seeking to capitalize on the re-emergence of the Tear of Ioun. The heroes must seize the Tear and defeat this threat, or the entire region could be swallowed by chaos. An adventure for 11th-level PCs. 4 FIST OF MOURNING By Robert J. Schwalb A Scales of War Adventure Path adventure. This short adventure bridges the gap between the heroic and paragon tiers of play for your Scales of War campaign if your PCs aren’t quite 11th level. The Cult of Exquisite Agony—a cabal of insane devotees of the Far Realms—has grown in power recently, spurred on by a local sect popping up almost overnight in Overlook. Now the cult is looking to expand its sphere of influence, using the recent chaos in the city as a springboard for their own agenda. An adventure for 10th-level PCs. 27 WINTER OF THE WITCH By Stephen Radney-MacFarland In this epic adventure, the Winter Witch—a legendary archfey—has launched a campaign to send eternal winter cascading over large portions of the world. After a summons to Winterhaven, the characters find a land locked in ice, and an old ally in need of aid. A trek to find a artifact known as the Sun’s Sliver ensues, the only force potent enough to defeat the Winter Witch and banish her from the mortal world once more. An adventure for 22nd-level PCs. TM

EDITORIAL Don’t Let the XP on’t Let the XP Senior Art Director Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs Jon Schindehette Grind You Down rind You Down Web Specialist Chris Sims Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter Contributing Authors Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mike Mearls, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt Developers Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Rodney Thompson Editors Miranda Horner, Gary Sarli Cover Artist Wayne Reynolds Contributing Artists Dave Allsop, Drew Baker Erid Deschamps, Gonzalo Flores Izzy, Goran Josic, Howard Lyon Raven Mimura, William O’Connor Ann Stokes, Amelia Stoner Sam Wood , Ben Wootten Cartographers Jason A. Engle, Robert Lazzaretti Sean Macdonald,Mike Schley Publishing Production Specialists Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries, Christopher Tardiff Web Development Mark A. Jindra D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins Executive Producer, D&D Insider Ken Troop Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek Special Thanks Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Rob Heinsoo, Peter Lee, Julia Martin, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, David Noonan, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt TM 162 DUNGEON January 2009 If you watched the news the week before Christmas, you might have seen weather reports about snowstorms in the Pacific Northwest. I know, I know—up here, we tend to freak out over the least amount of the white stuff, but this was pretty genuine… at least for a city that boasts a f leet of only thirty plows. So the office was closed for a few days due to terrible road conditions, and while I sat home and watched the snow pile up, I got to thinking about snow days past. I brought this up when we got back to the office, and Bart mentioned an all-D&D marathon during a snow week in his youth. What a blast! When they played— stopping only for food and the occasional nap—they didn’t track XP. Their DM would just tell them to level up after a significant period of adventuring had passed. The players didn’t even want to bother tracking XP-- that took away from the marathon session. And the DM then didn’t have to track numbers. When he was ready to up the challenges, he had the players take a few minutes to level up their characters. The idea was that when you’re running a D&D marathon, you don’t want to spend precious gaming time calculating XP. I think this is brilliant! Don’t get me wrong: I don’t have a thing against XP. In 4th Edition, it’s easier than ever to calculate and dole out. For most campaigns, it’s an ideal way to track character progress through the levels. Plus, that sense of anticipation as you creep toward your next level is great fun. For most groups, XP serves as your barometer for advancement—heck, for the entire campaign’s progress! However, that means that for most DMs, on occasion, it can interfere with the story you’re trying to tell. I know there have been times in each of my campaigns, past and present, when my characters have advanced more quickly than I expected, and I’ve needed to tweak encounters on the fly to make them challenging enough. That can be a headache. I’ve likewise had experiences where groups have missed encounters, often due to smart play, so they haven’t advanced as quickly as I thought they would, forcing me to alter encounters in the other direction. This isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I love that D&D is a flexible enough game that with the right group, you can just alter the XP system to achieve the same ends. Maybe you increase or decrease XP values by 20% for a few weeks until the PCs’ levels are back where you need them. Or maybe you just stop awarding XP for a few sessions until they’ve finished the adventure they’re on and are back on track. (Warning! This approach could be hazardous, and you might find your Mt. Dew spiked with Ex-lax or worse!) Basically, XP shouldn’t be a DM’s enemy. Just be sure to keep your group informed. If you’re going to fudge the numbers or start dictating when characters level (after a set amount of real-world time, or after in-game way points), let your players know and they’ll appreciate you for the heads up….. Or they’ll hate your guts and you’ll find your favorite mini’s decapitated head in your bed one morning. Regardless, the system can handle this quick and easy change. Heck, I’m sure I’m missing some other easy fixes. Has XP ever limited your game in some way or proved a liability? What’s your story? And how did you fix it? Send us your responses to [email protected]! The results from last month’s question are in. As I, ahem, expected, Against the Giants beat the pants off of Tomb of Horrors, 43% to 37%. Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll!

January 2009 ar y 2009 | DUNGEON 162 DUNGEON 162 4 by Robert J. Schwalb illustrations by Gonzalo Flores, Goran Josic, Howard Lyon, and Anne Stokes ✦ cartography by Mike Schley TM & © 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved. Fist ofMourning An adventure for 10th-level characters rning

Fist of Mourning January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 5 While lords and heroes alike look to the brimming war spilling across the lands, evil blossoms in places unexpected. With the realm, and possibly the world, teetering on destruction’s precipice, new factions rise to work their wickedness. One such menace is the Cult of Exquisite Agony, a disturbed cabal dedicated to perfecting mortal flesh by infusing it with the essence of chaos to make it more adaptable, stronger, faster, and better. Gathering in a fallen hero’s tomb high in the Stonehome Mountains, this cult commits horrific acts hidden from those who cannot comprehend their effort’s magnificent end. Though careful to avoid attention, success’s proximity has made them sloppy, and their deeds leave traces those with courage and resolve can follow. “Fist of Mourning” is a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventure for five 10th-level characters. Although designed as a short scenario for adventuring parties participating in the “Scales of War” adventure path, you can adapt it for use in any mountainous region of any game world and for any campaign. BACKGROUND ACKGROUND The Cult of Exquisite Agony blossomed and withered many times over the centuries, rising in power, but falling when madness and treachery consumed its greatest leaders. Each time the cult rose, it sought to improve on what the gods themselves had done: remake mortal flesh into something better and attain the full potential they believed was buried within all. The last time the cult stirred was over a century ago, many miles to the south in the ruins of Zannad. Believing the secrets to their evolution was within the fabled yuan-ti city, they scoured the wreckage with little luck and they, like others before them, succumbed to insanity and malice, turning against each other in an orgy of violence. Not all perished, and at least one escaped to carry the filthy message of transformation to other lands. One such refugee made it to Overlook, and before her death, she passed on her cult’s tenets to loyal followers recruited from local folk. Over the generations, the cult grew, but its leaders did not follow in their founder’s steps until one named Obsen came to power 10 years ago. A disturbed man with a taste for the exotic, he believed he gained the power and qualities of everything he ate provided the meal was alive while he consumed it. So he ate plenty and often. It wasn’t until he devoured a slaad tadpole, purchased at a high price in Nine Bells—the poor and crime-ridden district in Overlook—that he realized he had the means to attain perfection all along. For the next 10 years, Obsen and his cronies quietly amassed slaad tadpoles, performed hideous experiments on themselves in dank cellars, stole residuum to power their rituals, and made unconscionable pacts with otherworldly beings until they perfected the process. When Tusk’s armies marched on Bordrin’s Watch, Obsen and the cultists quit the city and marched to an

Fist of Mourning 6 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 old tomb under the Fist, a blunted peak in the nearby Stonehome Mountains, where they murdered the witch living there, and recruited heavily from the mountain’s denizens until they were strong enough to gather victims for the glorious transformation they would create. ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS DVENTURE SYNOPSIS As close as they are to their goal, the cultists’ depraved acts are bound to draw attention. Someone they crossed hires the adventurers to root out the deviants. The player characters climb the mountains and track the cultists to their lair. Once inside, the characters must navigate its perils, learn what the cultists intend, and stop them before their corruption spreads too far. STARTING THE TARTING THE ADVENTURE DVENTURE The adventurers might come to the Fist of Mourning for a variety of reasons. Consider using either one of the following adventure hooks or come up with one of your own. Hook: Bereft Necromancer Rufus Crumley might not be popular in Shantytown, but he is still a powerful and feared figure whose influence cannot be overstated. Because he is protected by his dire reputation and his undead thralls, no one has ever dared steal from him in his long years in the city. So when someone breaks into his tower, destroys his zombies, and makes off with his residuum stores, the necromancer is quite put out. Familiar with the adventurers’ recent escapades, the necromancer turns to them for help. He offers the characters 2,800 gp (parcel 5) if they recover his residuum (worth 1,000 gp). It’s not that the necromancer can’t purchase more residuum; he has a reputation to protect. Characters who stamp out the cult and return the stolen property also earn 2,500 XP for completing a major quest. Hook: Missing Adventurer While adventuring in Overlook and in its surrounding lands, the player characters have met and might have rivalries with other adventuring groups. When one such group comes under attack by these cultists, most are slain and at least one is abducted. The lone survivor begs the PCs for help in recovering his missing friends. The characters must rescue the cult’s prisoners from the Fist of Mourning and return them to Overlook. Doing so allows the PCs to earn a reward of 2,800 gp, plus a useful contact in a future adventure if they need it. Also, PCs who destroy the cult in the process earn 2,500 XP for completing a major quest. Treasure Preparation Since this adventure should help 10th-level adventurers make up any shortfalls to reaching 11th level, stock the dungeon with treasure parcels you have yet to give out for this level. “Fist of Mourning” assumes the characters are already halfway to their next level, so the adventure supplies five treasure parcels. Adjust this as needed to make sure the characters receive the proper treasure for their levels. Magic items, coins, goods, and other valuables are described in the room summaries and the parcels they represented are included for your convenience. As always, where the text specifies a magic item, you should feel free to swap it out with an item from your players’ wish lists. PART ONE: ART ONE: ON EVIL’S TRAIL N EVIL’S TRAIL Once the characters are engaged in the adventure, you might start at the entrance to the Fist and proceed with the adventure as written. Or you can develop the story more slowly by roleplaying through the process by which the heroes are hired, learn about the cult, and track the cultists to their lair. What follows are tools to help you develop the adventure more slowly. If you choose to use these skill challenges, consider removing the Outraged Dead encounter on page 19 to keep the XP in line. Skill Challenge: SC1 Investigating the Cult (page 11). Skill Challenge: SC2 Travel to the Fist (page 12). THE POSSIBLE QUESTS “Fist of Mourning” offers PCs an opportunity to earn quest XP. Provided here is a list of possible quests, and their rewards, from the hooks in the adventure. Major Quest—Bereft Necromancer Rufus Crumley wants his residuum back, plus he has a reputation to protect. Reward: 2,500 XP and 2,800 gp (parcel 5). Major Quest—Missing Adventurer Rescue the cult’s prisoners from the Fist of Mourning and return them to Overlook. Reward: 2,500 XP for the cult’s destruction and 2,800 gp (plus a useful contact in a future adventure if they need it).

Fist of Mourning 7 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 PART TWO: THE FIST ART TWO: THE FIST The Fist stabs out from a high peak in the Stonehome Mountains. Named for its uncanny resemblance to a closed fist, it marks Murat’s grave, a hero who fell in the dwarf uprising against the giants. The dwarves abandoned the tomb centuries ago when cruel winter storms, orcs, and other mountain-dwelling horrors became too great to maintain it safely. In recent years, a filthy hag claimed squatter’s rights and made the place her home. However, even her gruesome appearance and sinister appetites weren’t enough to deter the cult from taking it for themselves, and she met a terrible end in the bottom of a ravine when she tried to resist. The tomb consists of the dungeon’s western tunnels and chambers. They exhibit fine dwarven architecture still in good repair even after long neglect. The eastern chambers are crude since they were hand and tool-excavated. Orc miners, who serve the cult much as they served the mountain witch before, chip away at the granite for silver, gems, and anything else they might extract from the unyielding rock. General Features Illumination: Rooms are all dark unless otherwise mentioned in the encounter text. Ceiling: Ceilings in the complex are as tall as their widest dimension. Doors: Constructed from stone, the doors all bear intricate carvings featuring dwarves battling orcs, ogres, and giants. The doors are all unlocked, but such is their weight that it requires a standard action and a successful DC 10 Strength check to open them. Stairs: Whether crude or fine, stairs all count as difficult terrain.

Fist of Mourning 8 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 1. Cave of the Mountain Witch This room housed the mountain witch, the cruel hag who claimed the tomb as her lair. The cult murdered her and enslaved her minions. When the PCs can see into the room, read: An opening in the mountain extends into a wide cave. To the west, two statues carved to depict armored dwarves flank old, weathered stone doors. To the east, a tunnel opens into a deeper chamber. What at first looks to be a mound of furs rises, revealing a wrinkled crone complete with a jutting chin, milky white eyes, and one black tooth in the center of her mouth. She cackles as she hobbles toward you. The crone is an oni mage in service to the cult. It assumes the hag’s appearance in case any mountain folk come to trade or seek a remedy from the nowdead wizened monster. The oni plays the part well, pretending to be an unhinged and repellent creature, offering to cure the party’s ills, trade for information, and so on, using Bluff to maintain the deception (+15 check modifier). The oni mage denies the Cult’s presence here, but if the characters are insistent, it drops the disguise and attacks. Tactical Encounter: F1 False Witch (page 13). Treasure (Parcel 9): The cultists left the hag’s personal treasures alone when they took over the place, though they tucked them away in a niche in the center of the north wall. A character who succeeds on a DC 16 Perception check locates a sodden sack containing a rotting human hand, 90 gp, a garnet (worth 100 gp), a ritual scroll of Detect Lies (worth 360 gp), a potion of healing, and a caustic whetstone (AV 190). 2. The Furnace Early excavations exposed a pocket of hot gasses fed by a pool of molten rock. The liquid stone has cooled somewhat to form a thin crust over the fiery substance. When the PCs enter this room, read: Dim light shines up from a cavity filling the room’s eastern extent. The ceiling is smooth stone. A path winds around the cavity and it exits through a fissure in the north wall. Tactical Encounter: F1 False Witch (page 13). Characters who succeed on a DC 11 Perception check can hear the sound of metal striking stone coming from room 3. 3. Excavation The orc miners work this room to extract precious metals and gemstones. Tactical Encounter: F2 Infested Mine (page 15). 4. Deeper Chamber While the orcs served the hag, they dug out this chamber searching for gold and silver. When they found nothing, they changed direction. Now, aside from a few broken tools, this room is empty. When the characters enter this room, they can hear chanting echoing from the chamber ahead with a successful DC 10 Perception check. 5. Deep Mine The orc miners abandoned this room when they found nothing of value. Once the cultists moved in, they erected an idol to embody their perverse vision and awakened it with elemental power and foul rituals. Now, at all times, cultists gather to pay their respects. Tactical Encounter: F3 Entropic Thralls (page 17). Treasure (Parcel 7): Piled around the suppurating eidolon are 1,000 gp, a topaz (worth 500 gp), and two peridots (worth 100 gp each).

Fist of Mourning 9 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 6. Gauntlet Stalagmites cover the floor, rising up between pools of mineral-rich water formed from dripping stalactites overhead. The characters can take an extended rest in this room since the undead do not emerge from room 7 and no other denizens are likely to come here due the undead’s proximity. 7. The Dead Room The undead here were once dwarves, but they have awoken in death from their tomb’s violation—an act not even the hag would have dared. The undead creature’s efforts to oust the cultists have failed and thus they have gathered here to plan their next move. Their undead states make them completely unreasonable, and under most circumstances, they attack living creature entering this room. Tactical Encounter: F4 Outraged Dead (page 19). If the PCs spoke with Murat in room 10 and reveal this fact to the undead, proving it by showing the item they gained from the ghost, the undead break off the attack because they now see the adventurers as allies. The undead offer to help the PCs take on the remaining cultists in the complex, but they do not wait for the PCs to take short or extended rests; they continue if the PCs tarry. 8. Hall of the Fallen This room once honored Murat, the dwarf champion whose remains are interred here, by celebrating his mortal achievements and capturing them in stone carvings adorning the walls. When the PCs can see this room, read: Stone statues depicting dwarf warriors stand in a row against this room’s southern wall. Opposite, a ledge rises 10 feet off the floor. The ceiling and walls feature runic inscriptions. Double doors stand at the end of the chamber. Once the characters enter this room, the cultists spill out to attack. Tactical Encounter: F5 Hideous Cultists (page 20). Runic Inscriptions: Chiseled in Davek script, the inscriptions tell of Murat’s mortal deeds, each more fantastic than the last. Characters who spend at least 5 minutes reading the inscriptions gain a +2 bonus to Diplomacy checks made against Murat’s ghost in room 10. 9. Stained Landing Old blood stains the flagstones covering the landing. Several cultists met grisly ends here before their allies drove off the undead now lurking in room 7. Tactical Encounter: F5 Hideous Cultists (page 20). 10. Tomb of the Dwarf Lord The dwarves interred Murat here. Although dead, his spirit lingers on and rises if the room is disturbed. Skill Challenge: SC3 Congress with the Dead (page 22). 11. Hall of the Golden Anvil This hall honors those who fell during their service to Murat. Aside from a massive golden hammer inscribed on the floor and walls covered with accounts of ancient battles chiseled in the Davek script, this room is empty. 12. Servants’ Tombs Murat’s favored servants were interred in this chamber when they died. A dozen openings, each big enough for a corpse, pierce the eastern, southern, and western walls. Most contain bones, but a few are suspiciously empty. 13. Warriors’ Tombs This room holds the remains of Murat’s favored cohorts. Twenty or so openings pierce the southern, eastern, and northern walls. As with the Servants’ Tombs, most hold bones, but a few have been emptied. 14. Hall of Victories Honoring Murat’s greatest victories, stone statues depicting the monsters the dwarf defeated in battle stand in rows across the center of the room. When the PCs can see into this room, read: A wide hall contains statues that depict a bestiary of terrible monsters, and these statues run across the center of the room. Beyond them, a flight of stairs leads up into darkness. Tactical Encounter: F6 Living Statues? (page 23).

Fist of Mourning 10 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 15. Dark Landing Aside from the unnatural darkness shrouding this landing, this area connects the upper level to the lower chambers. 16. Defiled Chapel When pilgrims came to the Fist of Mourning, they attended services in this small chapel dedicated to Moradin. Its sanctity made it the cult’s first targets and they defiled the room. When the PCs can see into this room, read: This room was clearly once a chapel, because an altar bearing Moradin’s hammer and anvil stands at the end, but blood, bloated corpses, and buzzing flies testify to the atrocity committed here. The corpses belong to humans, dwarves, and other humanoid prisoners. Each has been savagely hacked apart and left to rot. Entrails cover the altar in an act of defilement. If the characters clean up the mess by removing the corpses and removing the offal and blood, they each regain 1 healing surge for their efforts. 17. Hall of Horror The hall of horror is the final room in the complex, and it serves as the location where the cult performs its most wicked acts. When the PCs enter this room, read: In the dim light cast by glowing gelatinous curtains shrouding a raised platform in the center of the room, you can take in the full horror of what the cult intends. Suspended in the jellied mass are dark shapes, struggling against the foul tendrils pumping corruption into their bloated bodies. In the center, arms raised, stands a swollen mass, dark shapes blooming and writhing on the silhouette’s body. Chanting sounds from within, presumably from the figure you see. Tactical Encounter: F7 Beyond the Pale (page 25). Survivors: If you used the “Missing Adventurer” hook, the characters might be able to rescue a few of the survivors. Each is infected with chaos phage and must be treated if they are to survive. Treasure (Parcels 3 and 5): The cult’s treasures include a +3 orb of indisputable gravity, a chest filled with 1,800 gp, and a fat fire opal (worth 1,000 gp). If the PCs were sent to recover the residuum, it’s held here too in a silver chalice with the opening sealed with black wax. In addition, a few old tomes, scrolls, and manuscripts contain mad ravings from dead predecessors. The writings are worthless to anyone outside the cult and characters who destroy them might prevent another group from rising in this group’s place. CONCLUSION ONCLUSION Defeating the cultists, freeing the prisoners, or recovering the stolen residuum brings the adventure to its end. Although wiped out due to the heroes’ efforts, the Cult of Exquisite Agony doesn’t need to vanish entirely from your campaign if you don’t wish it to. Their profane writings might escape the PCs’ torches, and might be found later by an enterprising adventurer with dubious morals. Or, some might still hide in Overlook, working their wickedness within the city. Whatever you decide, these twisted villains might yet have a part to play in the heroes’ uncertain future.

Fist of Mourning 11 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 SC1: INVESTIGATING C1: INVESTIGATING THE CULT HE CULT Level 11 (1,200 XP) Setup Begin by reading the following: So, you have your task. Now you’ve chosen to investigate elements of it. At this point, find out what the PCs are researching and how, and then begin the skill challenge. Investigating the Cult Level 11 Skill Challenge XP 1,200 Overlook harbors many secrets, hidden designs, and obscene stratagems. Sifting through the lies and prowling the streets might reveal the information you seek. The adventurers gather information, research dusty tomes, or tap contacts for more information about the villains in this adventure. Complexity 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures). Primary Skills History or Religion, Stealth, Streetwise. Other Skills Arcana, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate. Victory The adventurers learn about the Cult of Exquisite Agony and the information described under “Background” on page 5. In addition, the PCs learn where these insane people hide. Defeat The adventurers attracted unwanted attention and the cult sends a red slaad (see page 25 for statistics) after them to encourage them to give up their line of questioning. History or Religion DC 21 (1 success, 1 maximum) A success allows the characters to make Arcana checks. A failed check also opens up the Arcana skill, but the DC is 21. The PC recalls the more prominent cults known to have worked in this area. Stealth DC 16 (1 success, 2 maximum) During the skill challenge, at least one character must make a Stealth check until 2 successes are achieved. A failed check counts as 2 failures. The PC skulks through the shadows to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Streetwise DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) A success makes available the Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate skills. The PC snoops around, greases some palms, and questions locals about recent cult activities. Arcana DC 16 (1 success, 1 maximum) A success grants the characters the cult’s name. The PC recalls a useful fact about one of the cults mentioned. Bluff DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) A failed check increases the DC of Diplomacy checks by 2. The PC makes false promises to find the information required. Diplomacy DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) The PC bargains with an informant to learn more about the cult and its lair. Intimidate DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) A failed check counts as 2 failures. The PC roughs up some locals to find the information sought.

Fist of Mourning 12 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 SC2: TRAVEL C2: TRAVEL TO THE FIST O THE FIST Encounter Level 11 (1,800 XP) Setup Begin by reading the following: You have started your journey to the Fist of Mourning. What dangers lie before you during this trip? At this point, begin the skill challenge. Travel to the Fist Level 11 Skill Challenge XP 1,800 You navigate mountain trails, avoiding obstacles and hidden perils to reach the Fist of Mourning. To reach the cult’s lair, the adventurers must navigate the mountains’ perils. Complexity 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures). Primary Skills Endurance, Nature, Perception, Stealth Victory The characters reach the Fist of Mourning without attracting attention. Defeat The characters are spotted during their ascent and 2 warped cultists and 4 wretched and unclean attack the PCs while on the mountain path (see pages 15 and 18 respectively for statistics). The battlefield should feature a 3-square wide trail running west to east. The north side of the trail is the mountain’s face, while the south side drops 80 feet to another trail below. Endurance DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) Each turn in the challenge, at least two characters must make Endurance checks. A failed check results in 2 failures and each PC loses one healing surge. The PC resists the hardships of traveling through the mountains. Nature DC 16 (1 success, 4 maximum) At least one character must make a Nature check each turn. A failed check indicates each PC loses 1 healing surge in addition to counting as a failure. Using superior survival skills, the PC helps navigate around deadfalls, locate shortcuts, and identify hidden dangers. Perception DC 10 (0 successes) Using this skill doesn’t count as a success or failure for the challenge. Instead, it grants a +2 bonus or a –2 penalty to the next character’s Endurance or Nature check. The PC’s keen eyes find a way to ease the trek. Stealth DC 21 (1 success, no maximum) At least two characters must make a Stealth check each turn. The PC conceals his or her movements to avoid being detected.

Fist of Mourning 13 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 F1: FALSE WITCH 1: FALSE WITCH Encounter Level 9 (2,400 XP) Setup 1 bulette (B) 1 firelasher (F) 1 oni mage (O) The oni mage pretends to be the hag said to dwell here. It drops the façade if adventurers press it with too many questions or if they see through its disguise. Don’t place the bulette or the firelasher on the tactical map. The bulette joins the battle at the start of the second round, and the firelasher joins the fight in the third round. When the oni mage drops its disguise, read: The hag’s form melts away to reveal a mail-clad blue humanoid easily 9 feet tall. Horns sprout from its head and its baleful red eyes glow. It spits a curse your way as it reaches for the greatsword strapped to its back. When the bulette appears, read: The ground erupts as an armored beast breaks through the rock, its predator’s eyes glinting with hunger. When the firelasher joins the fight, read: A swirling ball of fire spins out of the darkness, and you can just make out monstrous features in its elemental form. Oni Mage (O) Level 10 Elite Lurker Large natural humanoid XP 1,000 Initiative +10 Senses Perception +7; darkvision HP 172; Bloodied 86 AC 26; Fortitude 25, Reflex 24, Will 24 Saving Throws +2 Speed 7, fly 8 (clumsy) Action Points 1 m Greatsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Reach 2; +15 vs. AC; 2d6 + 6 damage. C Freezing Blast (standard; recharge 6) ✦ Cold Close blast 5; +15 vs. Fortitude; 1d8 + 6 cold damage, and the target is slowed (save ends). A Lightning Storm (standard; recharge 5 6) ✦ Lightning Area burst 2 within 10; +15 vs. Reflex; 2d6 + 4 lightning damage. Combat Advantage An oni mage deals 1d6 extra damage on melee attacks against any target it has combat advantage against. Deceptive Veil (minor; at-will) ✦ Illusion The oni mage can disguise itself to appear as any Medium or Large humanoid. A successful Insight check (opposed by the oni’s Bluff check) pierces the disguise. Invisibility (standard; at-will) ✦ Illusion The oni turns invisible until it attacks. Alignment Evil Languages Common, Giant Skills Arcana +14, Bluff +15, Insight +12 Str 22 (+11) Dex 13 (+6) Wis 14 (+7) Con 20 (+10) Int 18 (+9) Cha 21 (+10) Equipment chainmail, greatsword Features of the Area Illumination: If it’s day, the western portion of room 1 has dim light. Otherwise, room 1 is dark. Room 2 is dark regardless. Once the firelasher joins the fight, it sheds bright light in a 20-square radius. Ceiling: The ceilings throughout the encounter area are 20-feet tall. Molten Pit: A molten pit takes up much of room 2. It descends 30 feet to a thin crust covering magma. A fall from the ledge deals 3d10 damage, and characters starting their turns in the pit take 10 fire damage. If a character starts three consecutive turns in the pit, he or she breaks through the crust, plunges into the lava, and is slain instantly. Statues: Flanking the double doors in the western wall are two identical statues. Each depicts a dwarf wearing plate armor and holding a greataxe in both hands, the blades between their stone feet. Dwarf characters in spaces adjacent to the statue gain a +1 power bonus to attack rolls.

Fist of Mourning January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 14 Bulette (B) Level 9 Elite Skirmisher Large natural beast XP 800 Initiative +7 Senses Perception +5; darkvision, tremorsense 20 HP 204; Bloodied 102; see also second wind AC 27; Fortitude 26, Reflex 21, Will 21 Saving Throws +2 Speed 6, burrow 6; see also earth furrow Action Points 1 m Bite (standard; at-will) Before it bites, the bulette can make a standing long jump (as a free action) without provoking opportunity attacks: +14 vs. AC; 2d6 + 7 damage, or 4d6 + 7 damage against a prone target. C Rising Burst (standard; at-will) Close burst 2; the bulette sprays rock and dirt into the air when it rises out of the ground: +13 vs. AC; 1d6 + 7 damage. M Earth Furrow (move; at-will) The bulette can move its burrow speed just below the surface of the ground, avoiding opportunity attacks as it passes underneath other creatures’ squares. As it burrows beneath the space of a Medium or smaller creature on the ground, the bulette makes an attack against the creature: +8 vs. Fortitude; on a hit, the target is knocked prone. Ground Eruption The squares into which a bulette surfaces and the squares it leaves when it burrows underground become difficult terrain. Second Wind (standard; encounter) ✦ Healing The bulette spends a healing surge and regains 51 hit points. It gains a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of its next turn. Alignment Unaligned Languages — Skills Athletics +16, Endurance +15 Str 24 (+11) Dex 13 (+5) Wis 12 (+5) Con 22 (+10) Int 2 (+0) Cha 8 (+3) Firelasher (F) Level 11 Skirmisher Large elemental magical beast (air, fire) XP 600 Initiative +12 Senses Perception +5 HP 108; Bloodied 54 AC 25; Fortitude 21, Reflex 25, Will 20 Immune disease, poison; Resist 25 fire Speed fly 8 (hover) m Fire Lash (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire Reach 2; +14 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 5 fire damage. C Wildfire Cyclone (standard; recharge 5 6) ✦ Fire Close burst 2; +14 vs. Reflex; 2d6 + 5 fire damage, and the target is pushed 1 square and knocked prone. Miss: Half damage, and the target is neither pushed nor knocked prone. Whirlwind Dash (standard; recharge 6) ✦ Fire The firelasher can move twice its speed. It can move through spaces occupied by other creatures without provoking opportunity attacks. It must end its move in an unoccupied space. Any creature whose space the firelasher enters takes 10 fire damage. Mutable Shape The firelasher can squeeze through spaces as though it was a Medium creature. Alignment Unaligned Languages Primordial Str 11 (+5) Dex 21 (+10) Wis 11 (+5) Con 12 (+6) Int 7 (+3) Cha 8 (+4) Tactics When the oni mage drops deceptive veil, it uses freezing blast to catch the largest group of characters and then spends an action point to use invisibility. It flies into the room where the bulette hides and waits to press the attack for when its reinforcements arrive. Once the bulette closes, the oni mage uses lightning storm against any controllers, thus ending its invisibility. While waiting for its area and close attacks to recharge, it uses invisibility and makes greatsword attacks every other round against strikers and controllers. The oni mage flees to room 3 to warn its allies if reduced to 40 hit points or fewer. The bulette lacks subtlety. On its initiative during the second round, it burrows 3 squares (solid rock) and makes a rising burst attack when it surfaces in the eastern chamber. (Note the area where it surfaced; it counts as difficult terrain.) It then spends an action point to make a bite attack, making a standing long jump as a free action to reach the next closest enemy. Each round thereafter, the bulette uses earth furrow and surfaces to bite an enemy whenever its movement knocks an enemy prone. The bulette fights to the death. The firelasher prefers to fight in room 2, but if it has no targets, it leaves the area to join the closest battle. It uses whirlwind dash to position itself where its wildfire cyclone would be most effective and uses it on its next turn. While waiting for its powers to recharge, the elemental uses fire lash. If it becomes bloodied, it retreats to room 2 where it makes its stand.

Fist of Mourning January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 15 F2: INFESTED MINE 2: INFESTED MINE Encounter Level 11 (3,000 XP) Setup 1 destrachan far voice (D) 2 warped cultists (C) 4 orc miners (M) A destrachan far voice works with the orc miners to expand this chamber. A warped cultist oversees the operation, commanding the orcs to work faster, while another cultist emerges from the side passage after checking with the other cultists in the deeper tunnels. If the oni mage fled room 1, it traveled here to warn the creatures here, so the creatures are ready for the PCs. Otherwise, the adventurers automatically gain surprise due to the noise. When the PCs enter this room, read: Green light shines from a medallion around the neck of a hideously malformed human, his flesh distended and shifting as if things crawled beneath its skin. Orcs swing picks at the walls, while a larger creature equipped with a strange tubelike snout, flapping ears, and a stubby tail, causes the stone to shatter with blasts issued from its maw. Beyond, a steep cliff rises to a chamber above, while a small tunnel in the western wall leads off into darkness. Destrachan Far Voice (D) Level 15 Artillery Large aberrant magical beast (blind) XP 1,200 Initiative +12 Senses Perception +14; blindsight 20 HP 122; Bloodied 61 AC 28; Fortitude 32, Reflex 27, Will 25 Immune gaze; Resist 15 thunder Speed 8, climb 4 m Claw (standard; at-will) +20 vs. AC; 1d8 + 6 damage. R Sound Pulse (standard; at-will) ✦ Thunder Ranged 10; +19 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 8 thunder damage. C Bellowing Blast (standard; recharge 3 4 5 6) ✦ Thunder Close blast 5; +19 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 8 thunder damage, and the target is dazed (save ends). C Reverberate (standard; encounter) ✦ Thunder Close burst 2; +19 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 8 thunder damage, and the target is stunned (save ends). Miss: Half damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the destrachan far voice’s next turn. Alignment Evil Languages Deep Speech Skills Bluff +12, Stealth +17 Str 23 (+13) Dex 20 (+12) Wis 15 (+9) Con 26 (+15) Int 10 (+7) Cha 11 (+7) 4 Orc Miners (M) Level 9 Minion Brute Medium natural humanoid XP 100 each Initiative +4 Senses Perception +4; low-light vision HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. AC 21; Fortitude 19, Reflex 16, Will 16 Speed 6 (8 while charging) m War Pick (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +14 vs. AC; 6 damage. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Giant Str 17 (+7) Dex 11 (+4) Wis 10 (+4) Con 15 (+6) Int 8 (+3) Cha 9 (+3) Equipment hide armor, war pick Chaos Phage Level 16 Disease haos Phage Level 16 Disease Endurance improve DC 25, maintain DC 20, worsen DC 19 or lower The target is cured. ! Initial Effect: A slaad embryo is implanted in the target. !" The target takes a –2 penalty to Will. While bloodied, the target succumbs to madness and attacks the nearest creature. " The target dies, and a slaad tadpole burrows out of its skull (see MM 237). 2 Warped Cultists (C) Level 12 Skirmisher Medium elemental humanoid, human, slaad XP 700 each Initiative +10 Senses Perception +5 HP 122; Bloodied 61; see also bloodied transformation AC 24; Fortitude 25, Reflex 22, Will 23 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 5; see also warp step m Greatsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +17 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage. C Reckless Arc (standard; encounter) ✦ Weapon Requires greatsword; close burst 1; +17 vs. AC; 4d6 + 5 damage. Effect: The warped cultist grants combat advantage to any enemy until the start of its next turn. Bloodied Transformation (when first bloodied) ✦ Polymorph A slaad abomination rips itself free from the cultist’s body. Until the end of the encounter, the warped cultist gains a +2 to all defenses, low-light vision, and can use the claws, warping flux, and warp step powers. However, the warped cultist can no longer use its greatsword or reckless arc powers. m Claws (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Disease +17 vs. AC; 2d4 + 5 damage, and the warped cultist makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude; the target contracts chaos phage (see below). C Warping Flux (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; encounter) ✦ Psychic, Teleportation Close burst 3; +13 vs. Will; 1d6 + 3 psychic damage, the target teleports 3 squares, and the target is dazed (save ends). Miss: No damage, but the target teleports 3 squares and is dazed until the end of the warped cultist’s next turn. Warp Step (move; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Teleportation The warped cultist teleports 1d6 squares. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Primordial Skills Athletics +15, Stealth +12 Str 21 (+11) Dex 15 (+8) Wis 9 (+5) Con 18 (+10) Int 8 (+5) Cha 17 (+9) Equipment chainmail, greatsword, shining medallion

Fist of Mourning 16 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Tactics As near as the cultists are to creating a new breed of perfect specimens, the adventurers’ arrival proves intensely frustrating. As a result, the cultists commit themselves to destroying the intruders. Each cultist draws its greatsword and charges the closest character, using reckless sweep when presented with two or more targets. Once the cultist becomes bloodied, a slaad abomination rips itself free from his body and immediately sets out to butcher the PCs where they stand. The new abomination uses warping flux to teleport behind the PCs’ front ranks to worry controllers and ranged strikers with claw attacks. Thereafter, if the warped cultist becomes marked, it uses warp step to stay out of its enemy’s reach, charging another enemy as they reappear. The warped cultists fight to the death. The destrachan far voice helps with the cultists since their ambition is not far off from its own—creating death and madness. This said, it is not particularly loyal, and when it attacks, it freely catches the warped cultists in its attacks if they get in its way. The destrachan moves to use bellowing blast and then scuttles away, peppering the PCs with sound pulse until its blast attack recharges. If two or more enemies come within 2 squares of it, it uses reverberate and then slips away to blast the offending enemies once more. The destrachan fights to the death. The orc miners want no part in the struggle, but as long as the warped cultists live, they fight the PCs. They work together, all four striking one character at a time. The orc miners surrender if the warped cultists are slain. Features of the Area Illumination: Each warped cultist carries a shining necklace, shedding bright light in a 5-square radius. Rubble: Squares containing rubble count as difficult terrain. Precipice: A sheer cliff rises 30 feet at the cavern’s northern end, marking the end of room 6. Climbing the cliff requires a DC 15 Athletics check. Tools: Scattered throughout the chamber are six picks, four shovels, a lantern, and two sunrods. Conclusion If any of the orc miners live long enough to surrender, they might be convinced to help the adventurers. Getting their help requires a complexity 1 skill challenge (4 successes before 3 failures) with DC 10 Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate checks. If any character failed a saving throw to avoid becoming infected by chaos phage, the PCs take a –5 penalty to all checks related to this skill challenge. A victory ensures the orc miners remain loyal enough to aid the PCs through one combat. A failure indicates the orcs won’t hinder the PCs, but they won’t help either and they try to escape at their first opportunity. The orcs, if made friendly, also volunteer information about the happenings in the tunnels. They explain the cultists have brought prisoners into the tunnels and do terrible things to them. They know the cultists can be found beyond the cliff, but warn the heroes that restless dead guard that path. The orcs also tell the PCs that a queer idol lurks down the side passage and that many crazed cultists worship it.

Fist of Mourning 17 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 F3: ENTROPIC THRALLS 3: ENTROPIC THRALLS Encounter Level 10 (2,500 XP) Setup 1 suppurating eidolon (E) 2 warped cultists (C) 4 wretched and unclean (U) A warped cultist leaves the chamber containing the eidolon. The rest of the inhabitants gather around the idol, where they offer it prayers and sacrifices of their own flesh. The warped cultist is bound for room 3 when the PCs come within his line of sight. If the characters succeed on a DC 15 Stealth check, they take the room’s denizens by surprise. Furthermore, if the characters kill the warped cultist before the start of the next round, the PCs can also take a move action before the start of the next round since the other cultists are oblivious to anything but their agony. When the PCs see a warped cultist, read: A heaving wretch wrapped in sodden rags surges forward, brandishing a greatsword. You see things moving beneath its skin. Suppurating Eidolon (E) Level 12 Controller (Leader) Large elemental animate (construct) XP 700 Initiative +8 Senses Perception +9 Fearless Followers aura 5; allies within the aura are immune to fear. HP 123; Bloodied 61 AC 27; Fortitude 25, Reflex 22, Will 23 Immune disease, fear, sleep Speed 5 m Slam (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +17 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage. C Curse of Madness (immediate reaction, when an enemy attacks the eidolon while unspeakable stance is active; at-will) ✦ Psychic Tendrils of filthy darkness penetrate the creature that triggered the attack: close burst 10; targets the triggering enemy; +16 vs. Will; 1d8 + 5 psychic damage, and the target is dominated until the end of the suppurating eidolon’s next turn. Miss: Half damage, and the target is instead dazed until the end of the suppurating eidolon’s next turn. C Caustic Inundation (immediate reaction, when an enemy kills one of the suppurating eidolon’s allies in the eidolon’s line of sight; at-will) ✦ Acid Close burst 3; targets enemies; +14 vs. Reflex; 1d8 + 5 acid damage. Unspeakable Stance (standard; at-will) ✦ Psychic The suppurating eidolon assumes a meditative stance. Until the end of its next turn, the eidolon gains resist 20 to all damage, and allies in its line of sight deal 1d6 extra psychic damage on their melee attacks. If the eidolon moves, the effect ends. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages — Str 21 (+11) Dex 14 (+8) Wis 16 (+9) Con 19 (+10) Int 6 (+4) Cha 11 (+6) 2 Warped Cultists (C) Level 12 Skirmisher Medium elemental humanoid, human, slaad XP 700 each Initiative +10 Senses Perception +5 HP 122; Bloodied 61; see also bloodied transformation AC 24; Fortitude 25, Reflex 22, Will 23 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 5; see also warp step m Greatsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +17 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage. C Reckless Arc (standard; encounter) ✦ Weapon Requires greatsword; close burst 1; +17 vs. AC; 4d6 + 5 damage. Effect: The warped cultist grants combat advantage to any enemy until the start of its next turn. Bloodied Transformation (when first bloodied) ✦ Polymorph A slaad abomination rips itself free from the cultist’s body. Until the end of the encounter, the warped cultist gains a +2 to all defenses, low-light vision, and can use the claws, warping flux, and warp step powers. However, the warped cultist can no longer use its greatsword or reckless arc powers. m Claws (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Disease +17 vs. AC; 2d4 + 5 damage, and the warped cultist makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude; the target contracts chaos phage (see below). C Warping Flux (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; encounter) ✦ Psychic, Teleportation Close burst 3; +13 vs. Will; 1d6 + 3 psychic damage, the target teleports 3 squares, and the target is dazed (save ends). Miss: No damage, the target teleports 3 squares, and is dazed until the end of the warped cultist’s next turn. Warp Step (move; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Teleportation The warped cultist teleports 1d6 squares. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Primordial Skills Athletics +15, Stealth +12 Str 21 (+11) Dex 15 (+8) Wis 9 (+5) Con 18 (+10) Int 8 (+5) Cha 17 (+9) Equipment chainmail, greatsword, shining medallion Chaos Phage Level 16 Disease haos Phage Level 16 Disease Endurance improve DC 25, maintain DC 20, worsen DC 19 or lower The target is cured. ! Initial Effect: A slaad embryo is implanted in the target. !" The target takes a –2 penalty to Will. While bloodied, the target succumbs to madness and attacks the nearest creature. " The target dies, and a slaad tadpole burrows out of its skull (see MM 237).

Fist of Mourning 18 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 When the PCs see a wretched and unclean, read: Clearly once human, this vile creature is a mass of dripping flesh and exposed bones, yet somehow still alive. When the PCs see the suppurating eidolon, read: A grotesque statue, all its contorted faces wailing and vomiting ichors, comes to life and steps down from its pedestal to face you. 4 Wretched and Unclean (U) Level 9 Minion Brute Medium elemental humanoid, human XP 100 each Initiative +9 Senses Perception +3 HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion; see also corrosive eruption AC 23; Fortitude 22, Reflex 21, Will 20 Resist 5 acid Speed 6 m Claws (standard; at-will) +14 vs. AC; 5 damage. C Corrosive Eruption (when reduced to 0 hit points) ✦ Acid Close burst 3; +10 vs. Reflex; 5 acid damage. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common Str 19 (+8) Dex 17 (+7) Wis 8 (+3) Con 14 (+6) Int 12 (+5) Cha 14 (+6) Equipment rags Tactics The warped cultists throw themselves against the PCs, exposing themselves to danger to trigger their bloodied transformation. Once freed, the warped cultists attack one character and then use warp step so they can attack another character. They repeat this tactic until each character has been exposed to chaos phage. The warped cultists fight to the death. The wretched and unclean support the warped cultists, each too far devolved to do much more than rend flesh with their claws. They sacrifice themselves gladly, moving into position where they can attack several enemies with corrosive eruption when they are inevitably cut down. The most important combatant, though, is the suppurating eidolon. It steps down from its pedestal and moves so it can keep all its allies in its line of sight. This way they can benefit from its unspeakable stance. Once the wretched and unclean are destroyed, the suppurating eidolon exits its stance, joins the fight, and makes slam attacks each round. Features of the Area Illumination: Each cultist wears a shining medallion and sheds bright light in a 5-square radius. Rubble: Squares containing rubble count as difficult terrain.

Fist of Mourning 19 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 F4: OUTRAGED DEAD 4: OUTRAGED DEAD Encounter Level 11 (3,000 XP) Setup Kalan the Avenger (K) 4 skeletal hammerer (H) These animated remains of dwarf warriors were defeated by the cult and driven into the mines, where they plot their revenge. When the PCs can see this room, read: Rubble litters the floor. Rising from the debris, you see a number of dwarf-sized skeletons, their eyes burning with hatred. Purplish light shines from a higher opening at the top of the far wall. Tactics The skeletal hammerers engage the closest enemies. Kalan uses volcanic burst during the first round, targeting characters in the back, and then he closes to fight in melee where his presence boosts his allies’ attacks. Features of the Area Illumination: Light from room 17 fills this chamber with dim light. Precipice: A sheer cliff rises 30 feet at the cavern’s northern end, marking the end of room 6. Climbing the cliff requires a DC 15 Athletics check. 4 Skeletal Hammerers (H) Level 10 Brute Medium natural animate (undead) XP 500 each Initiative +10 Senses Perception +12; darkvision HP 126; Bloodied 63 AC 23; Fortitude 22, Reflex 23, Will 20 Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant Speed 7 m Pounding Hammers (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal hammerer makes two warhammer attacks against the same target: +13 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage. If both attacks hit the same target, it is pushed 2 squares after the attack. M Hammerfall (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal hammerer makes two pounding hammer attacks (four attacks total). M Sudden Strike (immediate reaction, when an adjacent enemy shifts; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal hammer makes a melee basic attack against the enemy that triggered the attack. Alignment Unaligned Languages — Str 18 (+9) Dex 20 (+10) Wis 14 (+7) Con 16 (+8) Int 3 (+1) Cha 3 (+1) Equipment 4 warhammers Kalan the Avenger (K) Level 14 Soldier (Leader) Medium natural animate (undead) XP 1,000 Initiative +10 Senses Perception +12; darkvision Flames of Vengeance (Fire) aura 1; allies who start their turns within the aura deal 5 extra fire damage on melee attacks. HP 141; Bloodied 70 AC 28; Fortitude 28, Reflex 24, Will 27 Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant Speed 5 m Fiery Warhammer (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire, Weapon +19 vs. AC; 1d10 + 7 damage plus 1d6 fire damage, and the target is marked until the end of Dalan’s next turn. A Volcanic Burst (standard; recharge 4 5 6) ✦ Fire Area burst 1 within 10; +15 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 5 fire damage, and the target is pulled 5 squares. Back on Your Feet (immediate reaction, when an ally within line of sight is reduced to 0 hit points; encounter) ✦ Healing The ally regains 20 hit points, stands immediately, and makes a melee basic attack as a free action. Stand Your Ground When an effect forces Dalan to move—through a pull, a push, or a slide—Dalan moves 1 square less than the effect specifies. When an attack would knock Dalan prone, he can roll a saving throw to avoid falling prone. Alignment Unaligned Languages Common, Dwarven Str 23 (+13) Dex 13 (+8) Wis 20 (+12) Con 21 (+12) Int 9 (+6) Cha 14 (+9) Equipment plate armor, warhammer

Fist of Mourning 20 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 F5: HIDEOUS CULTISTS 5: HIDEOUS CULTISTS Encounter Level 12 (3,500 XP) Setup Anax the Foul (A) 1 gray slaad (G) 2 warped cultists (C) 3 mutated thralls (T) The creatures do not appear until the PCs open the doors in room 1. The sound draws them from their hiding places. When the creatures emerge, read: Three mobile tumors, bodies fat and glistening, waddle out onto the ledge. They have spindly arms ending in blackened hands clutching greasy filth. A whip-thin humanoid comes round the corner, greatsword in his hands. His face is a nightmare of scars, and worms wriggle beneath the shiny tissue. When the PCs see the gray slaad, read: An ungainly humanoid—a cross between a man and a toad—croaks at you. Reality rejects its presence, because light bends and wavers as it falls across its hideous form. Chaos Phage Level 16 Disease haos Phage Level 16 Disease Endurance improve DC 25, maintain DC 20, worsen DC 19 or lower The target is cured. ! Initial Effect: A slaad embryo is implanted in the target. !" The target takes a –2 penalty to Will. While bloodied, the target succumbs to madness and attacks the nearest creature. " The target dies, and a slaad tadpole burrows out of its skull (see MM 237). Anax the Foul Level 13 Controller (Leader) Medium elemental humanoid, human XP 800 Initiative +8 Senses Perception +9; low-light vision Intoxicating Musk (Poison) aura 3; all creatures other than Anax who start their turns within the aura take a –2 penalty to attack rolls and their melee attacks gain a +5 bonus to damage rolls. HP 128; Bloodied 64 AC 27; Fortitude 24, Reflex 25, Will 27 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 6 m Bewildering Caress (standard; at-will) ✦ Fear +18 vs. AC; 1d4 + 2 damage, and Anax makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +17 vs. Will; the target is dominated until the end of Anax’s next turn. R Madness Blossoms (standard; at-will) ✦ Psychic Ranged 20; +17 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 5 psychic damage, and the target is dazed until the end of Anax’s next turn. A Elemental Conflagration (standard; recharge 6) Area burst 1 within 10; +15 vs. Reflex; 1d8 + 6 damage, and the target slides 3 squares and grants combat advantage to any enemy (save ends). C Corrosive Vomit (immediate reaction, when hit by a melee attack; encounter) ✦ Acid Close blast 5; +15 vs. Reflex; 2d6 + 6 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage (save ends). Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Primordial Skills Arcana +15, Endurance +13, Insight +9 Str 9 (+5) Dex 14 (+8) Wis 6 (+4) Con 16 (+8) Int 19 (+10) Cha 23 (+12) Equipment robes, fleshy orb Gray Slaad (G) Level 13 Skirmisher Medium elemental humanoid XP 800 Initiative +12 Senses Perception +7; low-light vision HP 128; Bloodied 64; see also planar flux AC 27; Fortitude 25, Reflex 26, Will 24 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 6, teleport 4 m Claws (standard; at-will) ✦ Disease +18 vs. AC; 2d8 + 2 damage, and the slaad makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +16 vs. Fortitude; on a hit, the target contracts chaos phage (see below). R Condition Transfer (immediate reaction, when hit by an attack that applies any condition; recharge 5 6) Ranged 5; +16 vs. Fortitude; conditions applied by the triggering attack affect the target instead of the slaad. C Induce Planar Instability (standard; encounter) Close burst 3; +16 vs. Will; 1d8 + 2 damage, and the target shifts 3 squares and is knocked prone. Planar Flux (free, when first bloodied; encounter) ✦ Teleportation The slaad teleports 8 squares and becomes insubstantial until the end of its next turn. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Primordial Skills Athletics +13, Stealth +15 Str 15 (+8) Dex 18 (+10) Wis 12 (+7) Con 16 (+9) Int 9 (+5) Cha 14 (+8) 4 Mutated Thralls (T) Level 10 Minion Medium elemental humanoid, human XP 125 each Initiative +10 Senses Perception +4 HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion AC 24; Fortitude 21, Reflex 24, Will 19 Speed 7 m Tentacles (standard; at-will) +14 vs. AC; 6 damage, and slide the target 1 square. r Gobs of Filth (standard; at-will) ✦ Poison Ranged 5; +17 vs. AC; 6 poison damage. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common Str 17 (+8) Dex 22 (+11) Wis 8 (+4) Con 12 (+6) Int 6 (+3) Cha 13 (+6) Equipment rags

Fist of Mourning 21 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 When the PCs see Anax, read: You catch a faint, strangely pleasant odor when you first see this misshapen human dressed in lilac robes. With a thatch of greasy red hair pasted to his smooth skull, he seems perverse—wrong somehow. He pulls his hand up to reveal a shuddering tumor spilling foulness through his fingers and down his upraised arm. He cackles madly as the fleshy orb quivers in similar delight. Tactics The mutated thralls hold their positions on the ledge and throw gobs of filth at the characters closest to them. As with the other warped cultists, the ones found here are reckless, and they expose themselves to attacks to trigger their bloodied transformation. The cultists and the mutated thralls fight to the death. Anax and the gray slaad support their lackeys. Anax keeps the warped cultists inside the aura of his intoxicating musk and uses elemental conflagration at the encounter’s start. While waiting for this power to recharge, he throws madness blossoms and gropes adjacent enemies with bewildering caress. Anax fights until the gray slaad is slain, at which point he retreats to the landing, where he shouts a warning to the enemies in room 14 and makes a stand there. The gray slaad teleports around the battlefield, training its attacks against low-Fortitude enemies such as wizards, rogues, and the like. It uses planar instability only if faced with two or more foes at once. The slaad fights until slain. Features of the Area Illumination: The warped cultists each wear medallions that shed bright light in a 5-square radius. Stairs: Spaces containing stairs count as difficult terrain. Ledge: The ledge stands 10 feet above the floor. Climbing the wall requires a DC 20 Athletics check. A fall from the ledge deals 1d10 damage. Statues and Pillars: The statues in room 8 and the pillars in room 10 are stone. Each has an AC 4; Fortitude 10, Reflex 4, and 50 hit points. Reducing a statue to 0 hit points fills its square with rubble and the square counts as difficult terrain until cleared. 2 Warped Cultists (C) Level 12 Skirmisher Medium elemental humanoid, human, slaad XP 700 each Initiative +10 Senses Perception +5 HP 122; Bloodied 61; see also bloodied transformation AC 24; Fortitude 25, Reflex 22, Will 23 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 5; see also warp step m Greatsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +17 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage. C Reckless Arc (standard; encounter) ✦ Weapon Requires greatsword; close burst 1; +17 vs. AC; 4d6 + 5 damage. Effect: The warped cultist grants combat advantage to any enemy until the start of its next turn. Bloodied Transformation (when first bloodied) ✦ Polymorph A slaad abomination rips itself free from the cultist’s body. Until the end of the encounter, the warped cultist gains a +2 to all defenses, low-light vision, and can use the claws, warping flux, and warp step powers. However, the warped cultist can no longer use its greatsword or reckless arc powers. m Claws (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Disease +17 vs. AC; 2d4 + 5 damage, and the warped cultist makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude; the target contracts chaos phage (see below). C Warping Flux (standard; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; encounter) ✦ Psychic, Teleportation Close burst 3; +13 vs. Will; 1d6 + 3 psychic damage, the target teleports 3 squares, and the target is dazed (save ends). Miss: No damage, the target teleports 3 squares, and is dazed until the end of the warped cultist’s next turn. Warp Step (move; usable only while affected by bloodied transformation; at-will) ✦ Teleportation The warped cultist teleports 1d6 squares. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Primordial Skills Athletics +15, Stealth +12 Str 21 (+11) Dex 15 (+8) Wis 9 (+5) Con 18 (+10) Int 8 (+5) Cha 17 (+9) Equipment chainmail, greatsword, shining medallion

Fist of Mourning 22 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 SC3: CONGRESS C3: CONGRESS WITH THE DEAD ITH THE DEAD Level 10 (500 XP) Setup When the PCs enter this room, read: Wide pillars featuring reliefs depicting axes and hammers march down to the chamber’s end on either side. Centered between them, against the far wall, stands a stone sarcophagus, its lid shattered and lying on the floor. When a PC comes within 3 squares of the sarcophagus, read: The temperature plunges as a ghostly form rises from the tomb. A dwarf, with a long beard, hard eyes beneath bushy eyebrows, and wearing spectral plate armor with a great hammer slung over his back, examines you and speaks: “You! Why have you violated this sacred place?” Murat’s ghost does not fight the PCs and vanishes if attacked. However, if the PCs speak with the ghost and treat it with respect, they might gain his aid in defeating the cultists. Begin the skill challenge. Treasure (Parcel 2): If the characters succeeded on the skill challenge, Murat rewards them with a +3 thundering warhammer. A failed skilled challenge requires the characters to succeed on a DC 21 Perception check to find the hammer. It is within a secret compartment beneath the sarcophagus. Congress with the Dead Level 10 Skill Challenge XP 500 The ghost regards you with suspicion, awaiting an explanation for why you disturbed his rest. To gain the ghost’s aid, the PCs must convince it of their good intentions. Complexity 1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures). Primary Skills Diplomacy, History, Insight Other Skills Bluff, Intimidate Victory Murat believes the adventurers and grants them a boon (see Treasure). Defeat The ghost disbelieves the characters and vanishes, but not before stealing a healing surge from each character within 5 squares. Diplomacy DC 16 (1 success, no maximum) Characters who spent at least 5 minutes reading the inscriptions in room 8 gain a +2 bonus to Diplomacy checks. Paying the fallen hero proper respect, the PC explains the reason for being here. History DC 16 (1 success, 1 maximum) Characters who spent at least 5 minutes reading the inscriptions in room 8 gain a +2 bonus to History checks. The PC recounts some of the dwarf ’s great deeds. Insight DC 16 (1 success, 2 maximum) In addition to counting as a success, a character also gains a +2 bonus to its next Diplomacy check. A failed Insight check also results in a –2 penalty to the next Diplomacy check made, and closes off future uses of this skill. The PC watches the ghost, trying to read its emotions though centuries stand between the PC’s life and his. Bluff DC 21 (1 success, no maximum) A failed check cancels all other successes and closes off future uses of the Bluff skill for this challenge. The PC tries to deceive the dwarf, masking the PC’s true intentions behind a lie. Intimidate DC 21 (1 success, no maximum) An Intimidate check results in an automatic failure. In addition to counting as a failure, the character making the Intimidate check loses 1 healing surge. Bluster and threats are the PC’s weapons against this old fool.

Fist of Mourning 23 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 F6: LIVING STATUES? 6: LIVING STATUES? Encounter Level 11 (3,000 XP) Setup Animating spirit (A) 1 beholder eye of flame (E) 3 shardsoul slayers (S) What once captured Murat’s greatest victories in stone is now a mustering place for the cult’s greatest thralls. Awaiting the final preparations and emergence of the mutated host in the upper chambers beyond, they loiter here. The beholder passes the time scorching the occasional rat with its fire ray and hovers in the darkness near the ceiling. Three shardsoul slayers, each containing a fragment of a long dead primordial, linger near the statues, while a malevolent spirit flits about the room, too terrified of the creatures to attack them directly. When the PCs see the beholder, read: A large ruddy red sphere floats near the ceiling, spinning and fixing you with its horrible eyes. When the PCs see a shardsoul slayer, read: The shadows coalesce into a strange, horned automaton. A fiery red eye burns in the center of its head. Tactics The denizens attack when the PCs enter the room. The beholder stays out of melee reach but descends so the PCs are within 4 squares to keep them in its aura. While the constructs keep the strikers and defenders busy, the beholder targets ranged characters with its central eye followed by its fire ray. As long as the animating spirit is present, the beholder uses its telekinesis ray to slide an enemy into a space adjacent to a statue. It resorts to its fear ray only if an enemy comes too close. The shardsoul slayers spring out of their hiding places, charging the closest PC and then following up on the next round with slaying frenzy. The slayers, knowing the animating spirit’s tactics, pull back to lure the PCs into spaces adjacent to the statues while their slaying frenzy powers recharge. Beholder Eye of Flame (E) Level 13 Elite Artillery Large aberrant magical beast XP 1,600 Initiative +11 Senses Perception +15; all-around vision, darkvision Eyes of the Beholder aura 5; at the start of each enemy’s turns, if that creature is within the aura and in the eye of flame’s line of sight, the eye of flame uses one random eye ray power against that creature. HP 204; Bloodied 102; see also fiery burst AC 26; Fortitude 26, Reflex 27, Will 28 Saving Throws +2 Speed fly 6 (hover) Action Points 1 m Bite (standard; at-will) +18 vs. AC; 2d6 damage. R Central Eye (minor; at-will) Ranged 8; the target gains vulnerable 10 fire, and any attack that deals fire damage to the target also deals ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends both). R Eye Rays (standard; at-will) ✦ see text The eye of flame can use up to two eye ray powers (chosen from the list below), at least one of which must be a fire ray. Each power must target a different creature. Using eye rays does not provoke opportunity attacks. 1—Fire Ray (Fire): Ranged 8; +17 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 6 fire damage. 2—Telekinesis Ray: Ranged 8; +17 vs. Fortitude; the target slides 4 squares. 3—Fear Ray (Fear): Ranged 8; +17 vs. Will; the target moves its speed away from the eye of flame by the safest route possible and takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends). C Fiery Burst (when first bloodied and again when the eye of flame is reduced to 0 hit points) ✦ Fire Close burst 2; +17 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 6 fire damage. Alignment Evil Languages Deep Speech Str 10 (+6) Dex 20 (+11) Wis 19 (+10) Con 18 (+10) Int 14 (+8) Cha 23 (+12) 3 Shardsoul Slayers (S) Level 8 Soldier Medium elemental animate (construct) XP 350 each Initiative +13 Senses Perception +5; darkvision Deranging Aura (Charm) aura 5; any enemy who starts its turn within the aura take a –2 penalty to attack rolls and gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls. Each enemy whose attack misses the shardsoul slayer must make a melee basic attack against the nearest ally within reach as a free action. HP 90; Bloodied 45; see also shardsoul release AC 23; Fortitude 21, Reflex 20, Will 18 Immune disease, poison; Resist 5 radiant Speed 6, jump 4 m Claw (standard; at-will) +14 vs. AC; 1d8 + 5 damage, and the target is marked until the end of the shardsoul slayer’s next turn. M Slaying Frenzy (standard; recharge 5 6) The shardsoul slayer makes two claw attacks. If either attack hits a target marked by the shardsoul slayer, or if both attacks hit the same target, that target is also dazed until the end of the slayer’s next turn. R Shardsoul Release (when reduced to 0 hit points) Ranged 10; affects one other shardsoul of the shardsoul slayer’s level or lower; the target can take one extra standard action on each of its next two turns. Focused Killer (immediate interrupt, when an adjacent enemy marked by the shardsoul slayer shifts; at-will) The shardsoul slayer makes a claw attack against that enemy. Skyfall Charge When a shardsoul slayer charges, it deals 1d8 extra damage. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages understands Common, Primordial Str 21 (+9) Dex 18 (+8) Wis 3 (+0) Con 17 (+7) Int 6 (+2) Cha 15 (+6) Equipment greatsword

Fist of Mourning January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 24 The animating spirit flies to the nearest statue with a PC adjacent to it and then attacks. Each round, it flies to a new statue and attacks again. All creatures and the hazard fight to the death. Features of the Area Illumination: This room is dark. Ceiling: The ceiling is 60 feet overhead. Statues: There are eleven statues in all, each depicting a different kind of creature. They include the following creatures: dragon, beholder, minotaur, marilith, pit fiend, shadar-kai, a weird jellyfish creature with eyestalks, owlbear, an earth titan, an ice archon, and a carrion crawler. The statues are all scaled down or up so they are the same size. See below for statistics. Stairs: A set of stairs leads up to room 15. Squares containing the stairs count as difficult terrain. Animating Spirit (A) Level 8 Lurker Hazard XP 350 A cruel spirit flits from statue to statue, animating the stone to deliver a nasty attack to the unprepared. Hazard: An invisible spirit moves into a statue’s space and smashes intruders with the statue’s animated appendages. Perception ✦ DC 19: The character notices a disturbance in the animating spirit’s space, thus revealing the hazard’s position until it moves again. Additional Skill: Arcana ✦ DC 14: The character recognizes the nature of the animating spirit, including its attack. Trigger When a living creature other than the beholder enters the room, the animating spirit rolls initiative and it moves on its turn. If it ends its movement in a space containing a statue, it attacks one adjacent enemy. Speed fly 4 Attack Standard Action Melee 1 Target: One creature Attack: +13 vs. AC Hit: 1d8 + 5 damage, and the target is knocked prone. If the target grants the animating spirit combat advantage, the hazard deals 2d8 extra damage. Countermeasures ✦ A character can attack a statue animated by a spirit. The statue has an AC 4; Fortitude 10, Reflex 4; 50 hit points. An attack that hits the statue also damages and pushes the animating spirit 1 square. ✦ A character can attack the spirit when it is not in a space containing the statue. The spirit is invisible and has an AC 23; all other defenses 19, 50 hit points; vulnerable 5 radiant. Destroying the animating spirit ends the hazard.

Fist of Mourning Fist of Mourning January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 25 F7: BEYOND THE PALE 7: BEYOND THE PALE Encounter Level 14 (5,200 XP) Setup Obsen (Z) 2 red slaads (R) 3 horrid spawn (H) Obsen, the cult leader, performs the final incantations for the ritual to complete his victims’ transformations into horrific abominations. It’s best if he’s nearing the end of his ritual when the PCs arrive, but if they took too many extended rests before getting here, you might consider altering the encounter, possibly adding additional horrid spawn or having the tunnels leading up to this encounter filled with these twisted wretches. In any event, two red slaad look on eagerly, while three “early adopters” step free from the gelatinous webbing to serve their new master at the start of the second round. When the characters enter, have them make Stealth checks against the passive Perceptions of everyone in this room (20 for Obsen, 18 for the slaad, and 11 for the spawn) to see which opponents are surprised. Perception Check DC 26: Two hulking humanoid figures loiter beyond the curtains. When the PCs can see Obsen clearly, read: A horrific figure emerges from the slimy tendrils. Nude, genderless, and sporting terrifying growths that inflate and release, its flesh bristles with grasping tentacles, slackened maws, and spurting blue flames from dimpled holes in its flesh. Its hands are black with old blood and it grips a fleshy knife in its left hand. Chaos Phage Level 16 Disease haos Phage Level 16 Disease Endurance improve DC 25, maintain DC 20, worsen DC 19 or lower The target is cured. ! Initial Effect: A slaad embryo is implanted in the target. !" The target takes a –2 penalty to Will. While bloodied, the target succumbs to madness and attacks the nearest creature. " The target dies, and a slaad tadpole burrows out of its skull (see MM 237). Obsen (Z) Level 13 Elite Controller (Leader) Medium elemental humanoid, human XP 1,600 Initiative +9 Senses Perception +10 Entropic Imperative aura 3; allies who start their turns within the aura gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. HP 256; Bloodied 128 AC 29; Fortitude 24, Reflex 27, Will 27 Saving Throws +2 Speed 6; see also chaos stride Action Points 1 m Chaos Blade (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +18 vs. AC; 1d4 + 3 damage, and the target is stunned until the end of Obsen’s next turn. R Tumescent Nodule (standard; at-will, usable 4/day) ✦ Acid, Poison Obsen rips a nodule from his body and hurls it at an enemy within range: Obsen takes 5 damage: Ranged 5/10; +17 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 5 acid damage, and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends). Each creature adjacent to the target takes 5 acid damage. A Chaos Seed (standard; sustain: minor; encounter) ✦ Zone Area burst 2 within 10; targets enemies; +15 vs. Will; on a hit, the target is dazed and makes a melee basic attack against one ally adjacent to it. Miss: The target is dazed and does not make an attack. Effect: The burst creates a zone that persists until the end of Obsen’s next turn. Obsen can sustain the effect by spending a minor action, and can move the zone 3 squares by spending a move action. Any creature that starts its turn inside the zone is subject to another attack. C Chaos Blast (standard; recharge 4 5 6) Close blast 5; +15 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 6 damage, and the target grants combat advantage to any enemy (save ends). Aftereffect: The target takes 5 damage. R Writhing Chaos (standard; encounter) ✦ Teleportation Three ribbons of light appear in the air and attack: Ranged 10; three targets; +15 vs. Reflex, three attacks; 1d8 + 6 damage, and the target teleports to a square of Obsen’s choosing within 5 squares of him. C Chaos Stride (minor; recharge when first bloodied) ✦ Teleportation Close burst 1; +15 vs. Will; 1d8 + 6 damage, and the target is dazed (save ends). After the attack, Obsen teleports 1 square for each enemy he hit with this attack. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Primordial Skills Arcana +17, Dungeoneering +10, History +17, Nature +10 Str 11 (+6) Dex 17 (+9) Wis 8 (+5) Con 16 (+9) Int 23 (+12) Cha 19 (+10) Equipment chaos blade, 4 tumescent nodules 2 Red Slaad (R) Level 15 Soldier Large elemental humanoid XP 1,200 each Initiative +13 Senses Perception +8; low-light vision HP 146; Bloodied 73 AC 29; Fortitude 28, Reflex 29, Will 25 Immune chaos phage (see below) Speed 8, teleport 4 m Bite (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +21 vs. AC; 2d8 + 6 damage. m Claw (standard; at-will) ✦ Disease Reach 2; +21 vs. AC; 1d6 + 3 damage, and the slaad makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +19 vs. Fortitude; on a hit, the target contracts chaos phage (see below). M Leaping Pounce (standard; recharge 5 6) The slaad shifts 4 squares and makes two claw attacks. If either claw attack hits, the target is marked until the end of the slaad’s next turn. C Horrid Croak (standard; encounter) ✦ Fear Close blast 5; +19 vs. Fortitude; the target is immobilized until the end of the slaad’s next turn. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Primordial Skills Athletics +15, Stealth +16 Str 17 (+10) Dex 19 (+11) Wis 12 (+8) Con 18 (+11) Int 11 (+7) Cha 15 (+9)

Fist of Mourning 26 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Features of the Area Illumination: The ghastly curtain fills the room with dim light. Gelatinous Curtains: Characters moving through a space containing the gelatinous curtains are subject to an attack: +21 vs. Fortitude; on a hit, the character is infected with chaos phage. Each square containing the curtain has an AC 10; Fortitude 12, Reflex 10, and 50 hit points. Reducing a square to 0 hit points destroys the curtain in that space. When the PCs can see the slaad, read: Nine-foot tall monstrosities, each resembling red-skinned humanoid frogs, stride with heavy steps and issue gurgling croaks. At the start of the second round, read: Three struggling shapes fall inside the curtain and unfold into maddening abominations—all claws, fangs, and slime. Tactics Obsen starts the combat by using chaos seed to create a shimmering zone of madness to disrupt its enemies’ actions and sow discord in their ranks. He then spends his action point to fling a tumescent nodule against a ranged striker, leader, or controller. On the subsequent rounds, he flings the rest of his nodules, switching to chaos blast when he gets a clear shot, or chaos stride if he’s surrounded. He fights to the death. The red slaads target defenders and melee strikers by using leaping pounce to infect them with chaos phage. Once an enemy is infected, it switches to bite attacks, abandoning the enemy once it’s bloodied to attack an uninfected enemy. The tight confines makes maneuvering difficult, and so one fights from the north side, while the other fights from the south. The horrid spawn attack the closest enemy each round until destroyed. G 3 Horrid Spawn (H) Level 9 Brute Medium elemental humanoid, human XP 400 each Initiative +7 Senses Perception +1 Sickening Stench aura 2; any living enemy that starts its turn within the aura takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls. HP 120; Bloodied 60 AC 21; Fortitude 23, Reflex 21, Will 20 Immune chaos phage (see below), fear Speed 5 m Toothy Tentacle (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +12 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage, and if the target moves, shifts, or is forcibly moved before the start of the horrid spawn’s next turn, it takes 5 extra damage. M Mutilating Rend (standard; recharge when a horrid spawn reduces an enemy to 0 hit points) Reach 2; +12 vs. AC; 4d6 + 5 damage, and ongoing 5 damage (save ends). Aftereffect: The target is dazed until the end of its next turn. Shuddering Delight (when a horrid spawn reduces an enemy to 0 hit points) The horrid spawn gains 20 temporary hit points, but grants combat advantage to any enemy until the start of its next turn. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages understands Common and Primordial Str 21 (+9) Dex 17 (+7) Wis 4 (+1) Con 20 (+9) Int 5 (+1) Cha 14 (+6) Equipment rags About the Author Robert J. Schwalb contributed design to such books as the FORGOTTEN REALMS® Player’s Guide, Draconomicon™ I: Chromatic Dragons, Manual of the Planes®, P2: Demon Queen’s Enclave, Martial Power™, Player’s Handbook® 2, Eberron® Campaign Guide, Eberron Player’s Guide, Adventurer’s Vault™ 2, Divine Power™, Draconomicon II: Metallic Dragons, and Primal Power™ as well as numerous articles for D&D INSIDER®. Robert lives in Tennessee.

27 A cold winter wind blows from the Scourge Mountains, but its origins are not of this world. And with it come horrifying stories of a fey who walks the land. Cold, beautiful, and deadly, she turns every mortal she touches into a statue of ice, and she seems determined to blanket the entire north in a blanket of frost. It is the Winter of the Witch … and if the archfey Koliada is not stopped it could be the world’s last. Winter of the Witch illustrations by Dave Allsop, Eric Deschamps, Izzy, William O'Connor, Wayne Reynolds, Amelia Stoner, Sam Wood ✦ cartography by Jason A. Engle, Sean Macdonald TM & © 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC All rights reserved. January 2009 anu ar y 2009 | DUNGEON 162 UNGEON 162 by Stephen Radney-MacFarland

Winter of the Witch 28 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 “Winter of the Witch” is an epic-tier DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventure for 22nd-level PCs. By the end of the adventure, the character will have reached 23rd level and be well on their way to reaching 24th. BACKGROUND ACKGROUND The ways of the fey can be mysterious and deadly. This is especially true for the cold-hearted and cruel fey that constitute the Winter Court. Overseen by Prince of Frost, the various fey that make up the court are often left to their own devices and the pursuit of their own capricious whims. While it is known that the Prince of Frost holds mortals in utter contempt, he also rarely acts against them directly, but such constraint is not known by another member of his court. One being in particular, a somewhat minor archfey named Koliada the Winter Witch, makes deadly forays into the world regularly. Every century or so, the Winter Witch launches a campaign of frozen despair upon the mortal world. When she comes, snows fail to recede in springtime, and winter’s chill starts to spread southward, expanding with each of her victories. Along with the chill comes strange armies of fey and the wicked mortals that have kneeled before the Winter Witch. As her winter spreads, the Winter Witch freezes mortals into statues of ice, which somehow act as grim conduits of Koliada’s power. The last time the Winter Witch walked upon the world, a group of knights from the Empire of Nerath halted her advance. These heroes procured Koliada’s nemesis—a powerful artifact of pure sunlight called the Sun’s Sliver—the only item in the known universe that can destroy Koliada. The knights entered the frozen far reaches of the Feywild and confronted Koliada within her fortress of Winter’s Heart. Sun’s Sliver in hand, they battled the archfey, but before they could use the artifact to destroy her, Koliada fled the field, and while the knights won the day, they knew someone would have to confront the Winter Witch again. In preparation for that day, they hid the Sun’s Sliver, sealing it in an isolated monastery where a member of their order could retrieve it again the next time Koliada walked the world. But then proud Nerath fell, and with it went almost all knowledge of the Sun’s Sliver and how to defeat Koliada. Now the Winter Witch walks the world again. As cold spreads southward, an undead and disgraced knight tries to assemble a group of heroes that can retrieve Sun’s Sliver and defeat the Winter Witch once and for all, but other foul powers work against the plan. The demon lord Orcus has become interested in Koliada’s march, not for any love of the fey and their motivations (though the chaos they sow is useful). Rather he has set his agents to work behind the scenes to retrieve the Sun’s Sliver. Not only does the Demon Lord of Undead wish to corrupt such a powerful artifact of radiant energy, he also wants Koliada’s march to reach farther south than it ever has before, hoping that it will freeze over a volcano to the south and free a primordial trapped within—for what purpose only the demon knows. One thing is clear; heroes are needed to end the Winter of the Witch. ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS DVENTURE SYNOPSIS “Winter of the Witch” starts with the PCs receiving an urgent but somewhat cryptic message from the skeletal knight, Sir Keegan. In that missive, he asks them to return to the village of Winterhaven and meet him in his tomb under the ruins of the Keep on the Shadowfell. Making it back to Winterhaven, the PCs find that in their absence the settlement has taken a turn for the worse. An unnatural cold snap has destroyed the local crops, villagers from the town and the surrounding countryside have gone missing, and stories of the return of the infamous Winter Witch—a cruel and hateful hag of legend—abound. But as terrible as things appear to be on the surface, they’re shown to be much worse when the PCs visit Sir Keegan. They find the skeletal knight a helpless victim of an aggressive interrogation by a flameskull and a pair of demons. The undead minion of Orcus and his demonic thugs are attempting to extract the location of something called the Sun’s Sliver from the stubborn knight. If rescued, Sir Keegan explains to the PCs the nature of the blight on the surrounding countryside, and the reasons why the minions of Orcus are interested in the return of the Winter Witch. (The PCs might end up visiting Gloomwrought if they don’t succeed in discovering the minion’s deception.) Armed with this knowledge, the PCs’ next task is to find and uncover the Sun’s Sliver before the forces of Orcus can. The Sun’s Sliver lies under the remote ruins of the Monastery of St. Alabat, and it was bound there for hundreds of years by a powerful seal and ward placed by Sir Keegan’s long-extinct order. By the time the PCs reach the place, Orcus’s minions are already there, and they have enacted a complicated ritual that will unbind the wards of the seal. Fortunately for the PCs, their task is not yet complete. The PCs can fight their way into the deeper ruins, defeat the demon lord’s toadies, and retrieve the Sun’s Sliver, but not before having to deal with the artifact’s guardian: a powerful angel of prophecy named Remliel.

Winter of the Witch 29 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Once the PCs have recovered the Sun’s Sliver, the next step is to find and confront the Winter Witch. The search leads them to a cold mountain glacier in the Scourge Mountains. From this place, the Winter Witch has been launching her chilly assaults into the Nentir Vale and beyond, entering the world through a fey passage that takes the shape of a menhir circle made out of strange blue ice. Guarded by a cadre of icy minions and an ancient white dragon bound into the Winter Witch’s service, the portal leads to Winter’s Heart, the domain of the witch. Once the PCs win their way past the portal’s guardians, they have to traverse the icy terrain of the Feywild’s snowy reaches on the way to Winter’s Heart. Only there can they confront the cold-hearted archfey and save a section of the world from a wintery doom. STARTING TARTING THE ADVENTURE HE ADVENTURE The adventure starts simply, when the PCs receive the following note: Heroes of Winterhaven, I beseech you to travel back to my tomb under the Keep on the Shadowfell. Winter is without end here, and I know its secret. I am hoping that once again, where I failed, you can succeed. Please make haste. Sir Keegan, Doomed Knight of the Keep on the Shadowfell CUSTOMIZING THIS ADVENTURE A good chunk of this adventure’s background deals with and uses the town of Winterhaven and characters that appeared in the adventure H1: Keep on the Shadowfell. Winterhaven is really just a placeholder for a settlement and characters that hold emotional resonance with your players and their characters. I chose it because I assumed that a good number of your epic-level characters got their start in that village, but if they didn’t, you should tailor the starting encounters to your own PCs by re-skinning them with a village and NPCs they care about. This is as simple as changing the details, but while keeping the encounter structure relatively intact. The only place where this might get tricky is having a death knight masquerade as someone who isn’t an undead knight, but using a well-placed illusion or making Dzrak a doppelganger in the service of Orcus should do the trick. Treasure "Winter of the Witch" uses the “parcel” technique of treasure distribution detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Use these “13” treasure parcels. Parcel 1: Magic item, level 26 Parcel 2: Magic item, level 26 Parcel 3: Magic item, level 25 Parcel 4: Magic item, level 25 Parcel 5: Magic item, level 24 Parcel 6: Magic item, level 24 Parcel 7: Magic item, level 23 Parcel 8: 1,500 pp + six 5,000 gp gems. Parcel 9: 1,000 pp + 2 scrolls of Endure Elements, and 2 scrolls of Fey Passage, a scroll of Consult Oracle, and 4,200 gp worth of residuum. Parcel 10: 600 pp + two potions of recovery Parcel 11: 600 pp + ten 5,000 gp gems Parcel 12: 350 pp Parcel 13: Seven 5,000 gp gems Distributing the Loot Consult your player’s magic item wish lists, then apportion the following parcels into the following sections of the adventure. It’s possible that the monster make use of the magic items in their sections. Decide that ahead of time. K1: Two parcels in the possession of Sir Drzak M2: Three parcels in with the Sun’s Sliver hidden beneath the seal of Remliel. S1: Two parcels hidden in the troll cave. S2: Four parcels in the white dragon’s lair. W3: Two parcels and the sword of black ice in Winter’s Heart. SIR KEEGAN? DIDN’T WE KILL THAT GUY? There is a good chance that the PCs killed Sir Keegan when they played H1: Keep on the Shadowfell. Because of his curse, Keegan suffers on, even after vanquished. He rises again a month after his defeat. How he learned of the heroic nature of the group that vanquished him the first time is up to you, but given Sir Keegan’s shame, he does not begrudge the PCs’ actions the first time they met in his tomb.

Winter of the Witch 30 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 It’s obvious that that the strange weather is having its effect on the people of Winterhaven, but something worse is going on here. As the PCs enter the village, everyone has a look of fatigue brought on by hunger and misery, but also a small spark of hope caused by the PCs’ arrival. News spreads quickly of the PCs’ return to the village, and it’s not long before Lord Padraig comes to greet the “Saviors of Winterhaven.” Padraig looks far older than the last time you saw him, and he seems very haggard. Padraig’s Story Once Lord Padraig invites the PCs to join him by the fire and offers them heated brandywine, he nervously tells them his tale. My land is cursed by a creature called the Winter Witch. Honestly, when I first heard the tales of the Winter Witch, I thought it was just a long-lived superstition—a story to explain long winters. But that’s before I saw her myself. In the dead of winter, the refugees started pouring into Winterhaven. According to them, the Winter Witch was on the march, along with her armies of ice imps, frozen trolls, and other outlandish creatures. I assumed it was a tribe of orcs or giants from the Stonemarch, or maybe just a band of hungry and ferocious wolves or worgs scaring the populace. I rallied the Winterhaven Regulars to reconnoiter the threat to the northern settlements of my dominions. We were near the Vesk holdings, in the northern highlands of the Cairngorm Peaks, not far from the shores of Wintermist. The settlement was in ruins, but it was bashed rather than burned. As the regulars explored the ruins, I took shelter from the biting winds among the nearby rocks. And that’s when she appeared among the regulars, seemingly out of nowhere. She was cold, dangerous, and beautiful beyond imagination. She was the most perfect and most terrible woman I have ever laid my eyes upon. My terror overwhelmed me, and I hid among the stones as she waded through my regulars. Though they fought bravely, engaging the woman at every turn, she sidestepped their blows as if they were child’s play. Then came her touch, which transformed them into rime-crusted statues. A few, she cut down with her black blade, and laughed. I only watched, shivering in cold and terror. I’m deeply ashamed of my actions. But I know in my heart that what stalks the frozen land is a being beyond the pale. And that is why I called upon your aid. This is a threat that requires true heroes. At this point the PCs might be a little puzzled. Their missive was from Sir Keegan, not Lord Padraig. If they bring this up to Lord Winterhaven, he is also puzzled by the revelation. He sent a message out at great personal expense, and he has not spoken to or conferred with Sir Keegan about the local problems. As far as Padraig knows, the strange skeletal knight is forever confined to his tomb under the Keep on the Shadowfell and has no knowledge of Winterhaven’s current problems. PART ONE: ART ONE: WINTERHAVEN ON ICE INTERHAVEN ON ICE While Winterhaven is not large enough to have a permanent teleportation circle, the nearby town of Fallcrest has one within the Septarch’s Tower (see Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 204) and it’s relatively easy to gain that circle’s sigil sequence, if the PCs haven’t obtained it already in their previous adventures. From Fallcrest, it takes only a couple of days of travel at most to reach Winterhaven. When the PCs approach the town read the following: While the Nentir Vale is a northern region and used to the icy chill of hard winters, that weather rarely lingers this late into the spring. Where you were expecting to see the verdant greens of spring on the tree limbs, all you see is the twisted dark talons of wintershorn branches. Snow still drapes the Gardbury Downs. The air is cold, the sky is overcast, and every so often flurries still drift down from the chilly white skies. Winterhaven Village, Population 942 Ice still lingers in the ruts that dot the King’s Road that winds its way to the broad hill crowned by the walled village of Winterhaven. The alabaster fangs of Cairngorm tower appear behind the snow-draped village. The settlement’s walls and palisades are slick with clinging ice. As you pass by the thatched homes surrounding the village, they seem abandoned. When you enter Winterhaven’s gates, you see that a shanty town of makeshift huts clutters the inner courtyard. The local populace is gathering within the walled town for shelter from the cold. WHAT HAPPENED TO LORD PADRAIG’S LETTER? It was intercepted by the Death Knight Sir Dzrak, and the death knight still carries it. It’s just a simple plea for summons, similar to Sir Keegan’s letter, but goes into more detail on the nature of the threat.

Winter of the Witch 31 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Lord Padraig is not above begging and using guilt to gain PC aid against the Winter Witch. He’s downright scared for his own life and his people’s very existence. If nothing else persuades the PCs to help, he’ll even go so far as to bequeath Winterhaven to the PCs—he’ll abdicate his title and proclaim the PCs the lords of Winterhaven if that is what it takes to save it! PC Knowledge of the Winter Witch While the tales of the Winter Witch are obscure and somewhat regional in nature, as epic-level characters, the PCs might have knowledge of her and her nature. Have the PCs make an Arcana check. DC 25: The Winter Witch is a particularly malicious and terrible archfey also called Koliada. One of the Winter Fey (see Manual of the Planes, page 37), she pursues a crusade into the mortal world every century or so and that starts with a long and enduring winter. Some say her ultimate goal is to freeze the world, or to carve off frozen parts that she conquers into the Feywild. DC 30: Conjecture abounds on the true nature of Koliada the Winter Witch. Some claim that she’s merely one of many forms taken by the Prince of Frost; other stories tout her as his queen, his daughter, his sister. Some of the stranger tales claim more than one of these relations or even all them. Such are the way of the fey. DC 35: As an archfey, Koliada can be destroyed only by her nemesis. Each nemesis is particular to the archfey. Often it is an item, and sometimes it is another kind of agent of doom. Other Stories Lord Padraig isn’t the only person in Winterhaven with knowledge about the Winter Witch. PCs can gain more knowledge by visiting old acquaintances Valthrun the Prescient and Eilian the Old, as well as the only survivor from the initial assault on the Vesk settlement: Lauran Vesk. Valthrun the Prescient Winterhaven’s local sage and practitioner of rituals and other arcana knows a good deal about the Winter Witch, including what he believes is her true name. The Winter Witch is a fey, part of the court of the Winter Fey, and the mistress of the Prince of Frost. Called Koliada by her people, she is cold and deadly, and she wishes to cover the world in ice. If she is not stopped, this strange winter will expand farther south and east. Soon it will affect Fallcrest and the lands beyond. Eilian the Old Winterhaven’s resident amateur historian has not fared well during the long and cold winter brought on by the Winter Witch’s onslaught. Suffering coughs and fevers, the old man is on death’s door. A successful use of a Remove Affliction ritual eases Eilian’s suffering and helps ensure that he survives the current cold snap. It also also makes him lucid enough to give the PCs the following information. I remember my grandfather used to tell stories about the Winter Witch. Her last cold march was when he was just a lad. He told me that the last knights of Nerath, armed with a sliver of the sun, pushed her back to her domain of Winter Heart. Now that I think about it, I think he said that Sir Keegan, when he was a page, accompanied one of those knights. Lauran Vesk The only survivor of the Winter Witch’s assault on her family’s settlement, this teenage girl can tell the PCs the following about the archfey. She is a cruel and malicious hag who laughed as she sealed my kin in their frozen tombs. She commands icy imps and trolls, and she rode a white dragon. Development After gaining whatever information they can within Winterhaven, the PCs have only a few real options. They could check out the Vesk settlement, but little is there except the ruins and frozen remains of the Vesk family and the Winterhaven Regulars. More likely, they might want to talk to Sir Keegan. In that case, continue on to “Part Two: Return to the Keep on the Shadowfell.”

Winter of the Witch 32 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 PART TWO: ART TWO: RETURN TO THE KEEP ETURN TO THE KEEP ON THE SHADOWFELL N THE SHADOWFELL Eventually the PCs might want to go talk with Sir Keegan about his cryptic letter. It doesn’t take them long to reach the ruined keep, and, when they do, a figure steps out from the shadows. Outside the Keep When the PCs approach the keep’s ruins, they are greeted by a skeletal knight in plate armor. From the ruined tower that serves as the main entrance to the keep’s lower works, a skeletal knight in plate armor steps out of the shadows. He calls out in a raspy voice, “Old friends, I am glad you have heeded my call. Times are dire and I find that I need your help again.” This creature masquerading as Keegan is a death knight named Sir Dzrak—an undead servant of Orcus, and part of a group of the demon prince’s servants sent here to gain intelligence about the Sun’s Sliver from the skeletal knight who haunts the keep. Dzrak’s plan is simple—pretend to be Sir Keegan and lead the PCs astray. He does so by telling them the following. This long and strange winter is the work of a mad wizard named Veira Rimefire, who is even now hiding in Gloomwrought, which is a port in the Shadowfell. She has stolen a seal that once locked a portal connecting the mountains of the north to the frozen tundra of the Feywild. Only by recovering the seal and using it to lock the portal can this winter finally end. I beseech you to go to Gloomwrought, find Veira, recover the seal, and bring it back here. Once you do, I’ll guide you toward the next challenge of this quest. If the PCs ask him about Koliada the Winter Witch, he tells them the following: Veira is a tricky and powerful mage. I would not be surprised if this Winter Witch is a guise she uses to wreak havoc on the world or a strange fey that she has bound to her wicked cause. The false Sir Keegan takes any further questions with a calm ease. The conversation with him is actually a skill challenge. If they succeed, the tactical encounter begins. A failure probably results in the PCs heading to Gloomwrought (page 33). Skill Challenge: SC1: Piercing Dzrak’s Ruse (page 36). Tactical Encounter: K1: Duplicitous Death Knight (page 37). Sir Keegan’s Tomb If the PCs uncover Dzrak’s ruse and move deeper into the ruins of the keep, they find that the death knight isn’t the only minion of Orcus in the lower works. Though they have already received key information from the cursed curator of the Keep on the Shadowfell, a flameskull and two demons are still interrogating Sir Keegan in his old tomb. See the tactical encounter. Tactical Encounter: K2 Harsh Interrogation (page 39).

Winter of the Witch 33 November 2008 | DUNGEON 160 SIDE TREK: IDE TREK: GLOOMWROUGHT LOOMWROUGHT If the PCs are fooled by the false Sir Keegan, they are led on a wild goose chase within Gloomwrought. The PCs can travel to Gloomwrought in a variety of ways, but the easiest is by the many teleportation circles that exist in the port. Once the PCs arrive in Gloomwrought, they start a skill challenge to find Veira Rimefire. If they succeed, they learn that Veira is a relatively minor mage who was buried in a forsaken cemetery outside of town. More importantly they learn that this appears to be a false lead. If they fail the skill challenge, they learn this information once they find Veira’s grave and deal with the terrible undead monstrosity that haunts the graveyard. Gloomwrought Village, Population Approximately 12,600 A dismal and crowded seaport on the Stormy Sea, this mist-shrouded metropolis is both bleak and foreboding, but it serves as one of the safest ports in the Shadowfell. It will be difficult to find Veira Rimefire in this place, since its inhabitants are known for their tight-lipped caution and secretive plots. This creepy Shadowfell port is dark and dank, but it is hospitable when compared to the rest of this shadowy plane. It sits on the shore of a dark, foreboding sea, amid a group of inland bogs called the Skins. Full information on Gloomwrought is found in the Manual of the Planes (pages 58 to 59) but playing it up as creepy, cagey, and crowded will do for this side trek. Traversing the village and its citizens is a skill challenge done over the course of at least a couple of days. Skill Challenge: SC2: Finding Veira Rimefire (page @@). Blackearth Cemetery If the PCs fail the skill challenge, they are led to Blackearth Cemetery, the last known hideout of Veira Rimefire. A wizard and petty thief, Veira once used the cemetery as a hideout, but now she is buried there. Getting to the cemetery is a two-day barge trip though the Skins, which are the treacherous bogs around Gloomwrought. Once there, it is easy to find Veira—or her grave. If the PCs try to dig up the grave to look for further clues, they are attacked by the desecration that guards the place. Tactical Encounter: G1: The Cemetery (page 43). PART THREE: ART THREE: MONASTERY OF ST. ALABAT ONASTERY OF ST. ALABAT With the information gained from Sir Keegan or other sources, the PCs should make their way to the ruined monastery of St. Alabat in the Dawnforge Mountains to recover the Sun’s Sliver. If Sir Dzrak tricked the PCs into searching for Veira Rimefire in Gloomwrought, and the PCs took more than six days to discover that the quest was a diversion, they find St. Alabat empty, the seal broken, remains of a great battle between the angel Remliel and the forces of Orcus, and the Sun’s Sliver gone. While you might want construct a great chase for the Sun’s Sliver where the PCs enter the Abyss to retrieve it, that’s beyond the scope of this adventure. Without the Sun’s Sliver the PCs can go on to the Scourge Mountains, enter Koliada’s domain, and even face her at Winter Heart, but any victory will be temporary. They banish Koliada only for a period of time rather than destroy her. If the PCs weren’t fooled by the death knight or didn’t tarry long in Gloomwrought, the forces of Orcus are here and are just about to break open the seal. Orcus’s chief agent in this matter is a sorrowsworn renegade named Morthalat. By the time the PCs arrive, Morthalat and his minions—a rather rag-tag group of undead and planar renegades—have been attempting to open the seal binding Remliel and the Sun’s Sliver for days, but with little luck. To aid their endeavors they’ve just activated the Engine of Lum—a somewhat unstable magic device that channels a dangerous form of eldritch energy from the Far Realm. The Engine disrupts the seals and wards of divine, primal, and arcane nature. The Approach The only way to reach St. Alabat is by way of a winding trail up a rugged and windswept section of the Dawnforge Mountains. When the PCs reach the monastery, they find the scene described in the tactical encounter. Tactical Encounter: M1: Deathwatch at Ravensroost (page 44). The Ruins The ruins of St. Alabat sit across the bridge, clinging to the mountain atop a large ledge. Just outside the sundered monastery walls is a flat area where a group of Morthalat’s cronies waits among the snow and trees for any interference in their master’s plans (see “M1: Deathwatch at Ravens Roost”). The roofless monastery is long abandoned, and the upper works have collapsed to expose the lower area and the seal of Remliel to the elements. Morthalat is at work in this area, using the Engine of Lum to pry open the seal. Tactical Encounter: M2: Morthalat's Endgame (page 47).

Winter of the Witch January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 34 St. Alabat’s Last Secret On the southeast tower of St. Alabat, behind a copse of pines, hides a secret door. Originally designed as a hidden exit from the monastery, its existence is long forgotten. Well hidden, it takes a successful DC 27 Perception check to find it, and once it is found, it takes a DC 30 Thievery check to open it, or it must be broken down (AC 4; Reflex 4, Fortitude 24; hp 80), since the magical key that opened it was lost when the monastery fell. If this secret door is breached, or if an attempt to open it with the Thievery skill fails by 5 or more, the tampering triggers inert guardians: a pair of stormstone golems. The constructs then move to attack any and all intruders, including the forces of Orcus, but starting with the person who breached the secret door. 2 Stormstone Golems (G) Level 21 Elite Soldier Large natural animate (construct) XP 6,400 Initiative +11 Senses Perception +9; darkvision Stormstone Aura (Lightning) aura 2; creatures that start their turn in the aura take 10 lightning damage. HP 406; Bloodied 203; see also death burst AC 37; Fortitude 35, Reflex 26, Will 27 Immune disease, poison, sleep Saving Throws +2 Speed 6; can’t shift Action Points 1 m Slam (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +28 vs. AC; 3d6 + 9 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square and dazed (save ends). M Double Attack (standard; at-will) The stone golem makes two slam attacks. M Golem Rampage (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅ ) The stormstone golem moves up to its speed plus 2 and can move through enemies’ spaces, provoking opportunity attacks as normal. When it enters a creature’s space (ally or enemy), the golem makes a slam attack against that creature. The creature remains in its space, and the golem must leave the space after it attacks. The golem must end its rampage in an unoccupied space. C Death Burst (when reduced to 0 hit points) ✦ Lightning The stormstone golem explodes in a burst of jagged stones and lightning Close burst 1; +28 vs. AC; 3d6 + 7 lightning damage, and the space it occupied is difficult terrain until cleared. Alignment Unaligned Languages — Str 26 (+18) Dex 7 (+8) Wis 8 (+9 Con 27 (+18) Int 3 (+6) Cha 3 (+6)

Winter of the Witch January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 35 PART FOUR: ATOP THE ART FOUR: ATOP THE SCOURGE MOUNTAINS COURGE MOUNTAINS Either with the Sun’s Sliver or without, the PCs are urged by Sir Keegan or Lord Padraig to go on and confront the Winter Witch. Even if they cannot defeat the archfey once and for all, they can at least end her assault on the world. Either through Sir Keegan or their own research, they can find that the Winter Witch enters the world though a fey passage located atop a peak called Crone’s Finger among the northernmost Scourge Mountains. The crossing, which directly links Koliada’s domains with the world, occurs only during the coldest of winters, when a glacial shelf is formed from the Crone’s Finger. Then a circle of blue ice menhirs form on the shelf, allowing Koliada and her minions to pass through easily. To use the blue ice menhirs to pass into the Feywild, the PCs need to use the Fey Passage ritual (from Manual of the Planes, page 150, and reprinted in the sidebar, below). If they don’t already have access to the ritual, they can gain it either by way of Valthrun the Prescient in Winterhaven or maybe by trading with the peaceful eladrin enclave located in the Scourge Mountains. Fey Passage You open a path marked by standing stones, allowing you and your allies to step into the Feywild. Level: 6 Category: Travel Time: 10 minutes Duration: Instantaneous Component Cost: 140 gp (see below) Market Price: 360 gp Key Skill: Arcana or Nature (no check) Use this ritual at a fey crossing (see page 34). When you perform this ritual, you transport yourself and up to eight allies from the world to a corresponding location in the Feywild, or from the Feywild to a corresponding location in the world. The fey crossing need not be active for Fey Passage to work. You remain in the Feywild until you leave by another means or you perform this ritual again at a fey crossing. Special: Eladrin have a special connection to the Feywild. Consequently, an eladrin who has mastered this ritual or performs it from a scroll does not pay the component cost. Climbing Crone’s Finger Though a difficult task and rather slow going, the PCs face no real challenge climbing up the mountain to the glacial shelf. Once the PCs reach the foot of the mountain, it takes the entire day before they deal with the tactical encounter. Tactical Encounter: S1: Frozen Passage (page 51). Kurikveaeri ’s Lair PCs might want to search for Kurikveaeri ’s lair after they defeat the dragon. The adventure assumes that searching for the lair and finding its treasure is rather easier, but you could easily expand it to a more difficult challenge, and in doing so expand the size of the white dragon’s hoard.

Winter of the Witch 36 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 PART FIVE: ART FIVE: WINTER’S HEART INTER’S HEART Once the PCs use the blue ice menhirs to cross over to Feywild, they find a broad bitter expanse of eerily cold snow and ice. PCs with the aid of an Endure Elements ritual do not suffer any ill effects by the frozen climate, but those without must make a successful DC 26 Endurance check every 8 hours, or lose a healing surge that does not come back with an extended rest, unless that rest is taken in a warm and comfortable place. The landscape of this place is bitter and desolate. The only creatures the PCs can see are the fields of frozen bodies. These poor innocents were touched by the Winter Witch, and they line the path to her palace of Winter’s Heart. It takes the PCs two days of travel to reach Winter’s Heart. The path to the icy palace is a long ice bridge over a turbulent sea of cold water and floating ice. Tactical Encounter: W1: Orchard of Deadly Chills (page 54). ENDING THE ADVENTURE HE ADVENTURE The adventure ends with the defeat of the Winter Witch. If the PCs used the Sun’s Sliver to destroy the Winter Witch, the artifact is destroyed with her, and the world is free from her threat once and for all. If the PCs didn’t retrieve the Sun’s Sliver, or if they could not destroy Koliada with it, the Winter Witch rises again to threaten the world, but maybe not in the PCs’ lifetime. Because of this the PCs might be interested in regaining the Sun’s Sliver from Orcus so that he cannot corrupt the item. If the PCs still have the Sun’s Sliver, they might want to find a way to hide it and keep it safe for the next generation to fight the Winter Witch. The people of Winterhaven and especially Sir Keegan are greatly relieved by the PCs’ success, and they celebrate the PCs as the twice saviors of Winterhaven. Defeating the Winter Witch does not go unnoticed. It might bring the ire of both the Prince of Frost and Orcus, but such are the things for further epic adventures. SC1: PIERCING C1: PIERCING DZRAK’S RUSE ZRAK’S RUSE Encounter Level 22 (4,150 XP) Setup While the PCs are conversing with the disguised death knight, they are engaging in a secret skill challenge. Perceptive PCs have clues that they can piece together to help them realize that they are being deceived. If the PCs discover Dzrak’s ruse or attack the death knight, start the tactical encounter. Tactical Encounter: K1: Duplicitous Death Knight (page 37). If they are deceived by Dzrak and decide to go on to Gloomwrought, go to “Sidetrek: Gloomwrought” (page 33). Piercing Drzak’s Ruse Level 22 Skill Challenge XP 4,150 By recalling your last meeting with Sir Keegan and noticing some abnormalities around the meeting place, you learn that this undead knight is not who he claims to be. To learn more about what’s going on, the PCs must see past Dzrak’s deception. Complexity 1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills Perception, Insight Other Skills Religion Victory The PCs are certain that this undead knight is not Sir Keegan. Defeat The PCs are certain that they are speaking to Sir Keegan, though they may suspect he is hiding something. Perception DC 25 (1 success, maximum 3 successes). There are many inconsistencies the PC can notice with a successful Perception check. First, they can spot the remains sticking out from the snow here and there (Drzak’s Risenguard hiding among the drifts), second they can notice that Drzak is left handed, while Keegan was right handed, lastly they can notice differences in the bone structure between Keegan and Drzak. Insight DC 25 (1or 2 success, no upper maximum successes). While a charismatic and skilled manipulator, Drzak is telling a number of boldfaced lies, and each successful Insight check picks up on a lie. If the PCs remember that Sir Keegan cannot leave his tomb, and question Drzak on that, the death knight makes some feeble excuse, but reward the PC with 2 successes for making the connection. Religion DC 29 (1 success, maximum 1 success). The PC notices that the undead knight seems to radiate an aura similar to that of a death knight.

Winter of the Witch 37 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 K1: DUPLICITOUS 1: DUPLICITOUS DEATH KNIGHT EATH KNIGHT Encounter Level 24 (34,070 XP) Setup False Sir Keegan (Dzrak the death knight) (D) 2 tormenting ghosts (G) 15 risenguard of Dzrak (R) This encounter takes place as the PCs approach the upper works of the Keep on the Shadowfell. Sir Dzrak, a death knight in the service of Orcus, masquerades as Sir Keegan and attempts to trick the PCs toward another course. If his subterfuge is detected, he attacks. Dzrak starts combat by calling forth his minions. Some of the death knight’s minions rise from the snow-covered ground (the bones in the snow that the PCs have a chance of spotting) or move forward from hidden positions within the ruins of the keep. Tactics Sir Dzrak strides forward arrogantly though the battle, supporting his troops with his aura and the pure devastation of his unholy flames. He seeks out those worthy of his attention—usually a defender, most definitely a paladin of Pelor or the Raven Queen—and he calls out a challenge for them to battle him one on one. Of course he is not as honorable as calling out such a challenge makes him seem. He has no problem making opportunity attacks against soft targets, and his real goal is to keep the defender busy as his Risenguard and ghosts assault the PCs controller and leader characters. The pair of tormenting ghosts focuses their attacks on pesky controller or flying enemies. If tactically prudent, they split up, dominating the controller and the PCs’ leader. The group of Risenguard stationed within the ruins pushes forward and moves into position to pepper their enemies with arrows—preferably through the arrow slits. Those hidden in the snow rise to face their enemy in melee and work to give their fellow minions and their master opportunities to flank. Development Sir Dzrak does not yield and does not talk if the PCs find a way to capture him. Unlike most death knights, Sir Dzrak has a phylactery that works exactly like a lich’s. It’s kept in the possession of his dread lord. He knows that his service to Orcus is too important for his destruction to be permanent. If the PCs discover Sir Dzrak’s ruse and defeat the death knight and his minions, they can proceed into the lower works of the keep toward Sir Keegan’s tomb. If the PCs search the area for clues, a successful DC 22 Perception check discovers a strange green scale close to the entrance of the lower works. A successful DC 20 Arcana check recognizes it as the scale of a marilith—a six-armed demon who is a master of swordplay. False Sir Keegan Level 24 Elite Soldier (Leader) (Sir Drzak) Medium natural humanoid (undead) XP 12,100 Initiative +16 Senses Perception +11; darkvision Marshal Undead aura 10; lower-level undead allies in the aura gain a +2 bonus to their attack rolls. AC 40; Fortitude 36, Reflex 36, Will 36 HP 440; Bloodied 220; see also second wind Immune disease, fear, poison; Resist 15 necrotic; Vulnerable 15 radiant Saving Throws +2 Speed 6, fly 6 Action Points 1 m Soulsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic, Weapon +30 vs. AC; 2d12 + 18 damage plus 10 necrotic damage (42 + 3d6 damage plus 10 necrotic damage on a critical). M Icy Death Strike (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic, Weapon Requires soulsword; +23 vs. AC; 2d12+ 18 plus 10 necrotic and cold damage and the target is dazed (save ends). M Warrior’s Challenge (standard; encounter) ✦ Necrotic, Weapon Requires soulsword; +23 vs. AC; 3d12 + 18 plus 10 necrotic damage, and the target is pushed 2 squares. All enemies within 2 squares of the target are marked until the end of the death knight’s next turn. C Unholy Flames (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅ ) ✦ Fire, Necrotic Close burst 2; +19 vs. Reflex; 6d10 + 18 fire and necrotic damage to living creatures. Undead creatures within the burst (including the death knight) deal an extra 3d8 fire damage with melee attacks until the end of the death knight’s next turn. Combat Challenge Every time the death knight attacks an enemy, whether that attack hits or misses, the death knight can mark that target. The mark lasts until the end of the death knight’s next turn. In addition, whenever an adjacent enemy shifts, the death knight makes a melee basic attack against that enemy (as an immediate interrupt). Indestructible When Sir Drzak is reduced to 0 hit points, his body and possessions crumble into dust, but he is not destroyed. He reappears (along with its possessions) in 1d10 days within 1 square of his phylactery, unless the phylactery is also found and destroyed. Second Wind (standard; encounter) ✦ Healing The death knight spends a healing surge and regains 110 hit points. The death knight gains a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of its next turn. Alignment Evil Languages Abyssal, Common Skills Bluff +20 Str 24 (+19) Dex 15 (+14) Wis 11 (+12) Con 20 (+17) Int 13 (+13) Cha 17 (+15) Equipment plate armor, light shield, soulsword (longsword), Sir Padraig’s letter to the PCs

Winter of the Witch 38 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Features of the Area Illumination: The light depends on the time of day. Boulder: The boulder on the far side of the tower ruins costs 4 squares to enter instead of the normal 2, but creatures adjacent to the boulder can gain cover from it from enemies on the other side of the boulder. Cliffs: The 20-foot tall cliff faces are sheer and slippery. It takes a successful DC 30 Athletics check to climb them. Cliff Side Rock Falls: Areas of the cliff sides that have difficult terrain marks due to the rock fall cost 4 squares to enter instead of the usual 2 squares due to the slick and steep conditions. Sacred Circle: The circle is an artifact from when the tower defended this section of the valley, and creatures within the circle gain a +2 bonus to all attack rolls. Tower Rubble: The difficult terrain near the tower entrance is standard—it costs 2 squares to enter. 15 Risenguard of Drzak (R) Level 22 Minion Medium natural animate (undead) XP 1,038 each Death’s Icy Grasp aura 1; living creature that start their turn in the aura take 5 cold damage and are slowed until the end of their next turn. Initiative +11 Senses Perception +11; darkvision HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. AC 25; Fortitude 25, Reflex 24, Will 22 Resist 15 necrotic; Vulnerable 10 radiant Speed 8 m Fullblade (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +24 vs. AC; 8 damage, 10 damage on a critical. m Longbow (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +24 vs. AC; 10 damage, 15 damage on a critical. Alignment Evil Languages Supernal Str 21 (+16) Dex 20 (+16) Wis 17 (+14) Con 18 (+15) Int 10 (+11) Cha 8 (+10) Equipment plate armor, fullblade 2 Tormenting Ghosts (G) Level 21 Controller Medium shadow humanoid (undead) XP 3,200 each Initiative +19 Senses Perception +17; darkvision HP 152; Bloodied 76 AC 32; Fortitude 30, Reflex 34, Will 32 Immune disease, poison; Resist insubstantial Speed fly 6 (hover); phasing m Spirit Touch (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic +24 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 9 necrotic damage. M Ghostly Possession (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅ ) ✦ Charm Target must be a living humanoid; +24 vs. Will; the tormenting ghost enters the target’s space and is removed from play, and the target is dominated (save ends). The tormenting ghost can use this power against only one creature at a time. When the target is no longer dominated, or when the tormenting ghost chooses to end its ghostly possession (a free action), the ghost reappears in a square adjacent to the target. C Burst of Terror (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅ ) ✦ Fear, Necrotic Close burst 5; targets enemies; +24 vs. Will; 1d8 + 9 necrotic damage, the target is pushed 5 squares, and the target is dazed and immobilized (save ends both). A Ghostly Terrain (standard; at-will) ✦ Zone Area burst 1 within 10; the area is suddenly filled with ghostly lights, wisps of necrotic mist, and the faint whispers of the dead. The zone is difficult terrain and lightly obscured. Any creature that enters or ends its turn in the zone is immobilized (save ends). The zone lasts until the end of the encounter or for 5 minutes. Spectral Shift (immediate reaction, when missed by a melee attack; at-will) The tormenting ghost shifts 3 squares. Alignment Evil Languages Common Skills Stealth +24 Str 11 (+10) Dex 28 (+19) Wis 14 (+12) Con 20 (+15) Int 12 (+11) Cha 25 (+17)

Winter of the Witch 39 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 K2: HARSH 2: HARSH INTERROGATION NTERROGATION Encounter Level 23 (28,350 XP) Setup 1 great flameskull (F) 1 glabrezu (G) 1 marilith (M) As the PCs approach Sir Keegan’s tomb, they can hear a commotion coming from up ahead. Before the PCs reach the encounter area, read the following: High-pitched and maniacal laughter echoes from a point deeper in the lower works of the keep, in the direction of Sir Keegan’s tomb. After the laughter, the same high voice utters something that’s hard to make out. PCs succeeding at a DC 28 Perception check make out what the voice is saying: “This has all been very entertaining, Keegan, but I believe you have outlived your usefulness. Prepare to meet oblivion.” You can’t be sure, but you think you hear a weak voice whisper “thank you” in response. From their location, it takes the PCs scant seconds to reach the encounter area, and when they do, they find the shrine to Bahamut and Sir Keegan’s tomb in utter shambles. The agents of Orcus have demolished the place and desecrated the iconography dedicated to the Platinum Dragon. As the PCs enter, the trio is about to finish off the undead knight, since they’ve gained all the useful information they are going to get from him. Tactics Once the demons and the flameskull realize they are not alone, they move into action to take on the threat. The glabrezu squeezes through the tomb’s entrance and into melee with the PCs. The marilith snakes around, using its weapon dance if necessary, to place itself in a tactical position where it can attack as many PCs as possible. The great flameskull—the leader of this grim operation—stays behind its wall of demons, while spitting its flame ray and firestorm at the PCs from a distance. Development If the PCs save Sir Keegan, they can question him about his summons, the Winter Witch, and the minions of Orcus that are swarming through the ruins of the Keep on the Shadowfell. If the PCs are fooled by Sir Dzrak and return here only after the minions of Orcas have destroyed the death knight, they must wait a month (at which point all could be lost) or gain the information with a successful use of a Speak with Dead ritual. The following is the information Keegan can give the PCs (in question and answer format). Q: Why did you summon us here? Winterhaven, the Nentir Vale, and the entire region are threatened. The Winter Witch has returned and if she has her way, she will bury the entire world in frost. You need to right another of my failures and stop her. Great Flameskull Level 24 Artillery Small natural animate (undead) XP 6,050 Initiative +19 Senses Perception +22; truesight 6 HP 174; Bloodied 87 Regeneration 10 AC 37; Fortitude 34, Reflex 39, Will 37 Immune disease, poison; Resist 20 fire, 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant Speed fly 10 (hover) m Fiery Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire +26 vs. AC; 1d4 damage plus 2d6 fire damage. R Flame Ray (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire Ranged 20; +28 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 10 fire damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the great flameskull’s next turn. A Firestorm (standard; encounter) ✦ Fire Area burst 4 within 20; +27 vs. Reflex; 3d6 + 10 fire damage. Miss: Half damage. The firestorm blocks line of sight, deals 10 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the area, and disappears at the end of the great flameskull’s next turn. The great flameskull can exclude allies from the effect. Mage Hand (minor; at-will) ✦ Conjuration As the wizard power mage hand (Player’s Handbook 158). Illumination The great flameskull sheds bright light out to 5 squares, but it can reduce its brightness to dim light out to 2 squares as a free action. Alignment Unaligned Languages Common, one other Skills Stealth +24 Str 10 (+12) Dex 25 (+19) Wis 21 (+17) Con 24 (+19) Int 30 (+22) Cha 28 (+21)

Winter of the Witch 40 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Q: How did you find out about the Winter Witch? When I was a boy, I was squire to one of a group of knights sent by the empire to stop her last march. We were bold, strong, and armed with her nemesis—an artifact in the form of a mote of pure sunlight called the Sun’s Sliver. But ultimately we failed. Though we forced her to flee the world and we put an end to her last winter, we did slay her. Now you must succeed where we failed. Q: How do we defeat the Winter Witch? My order hid the Sun’s Sliver, binding it under a powerful seal hidden in a monastery that sits high in the Dawnforge Mountains. If you retrieve it and confront the Winter Witch in her lair, you can destroy her. But you must hurry. For I’ve failed you again. Those agents of Orcus tricked me into revealing the location of the monastery and the seal. They are already one step ahead of you, and without the Sun’s Sliver you can hope only to banish the Winter Witch. Her evil will come again. Q: What do demons and undead have to do with this? At first I was puzzled as to why the filth of Orcus would be interested in the Sun’s Sliver and Koliada’s cold march, but during his interrogation, the flameskull told me the reason. Not only does Orcus want to corrupt the holy artifact to his own use, he wants the Winter Witch to succeed in her goal of freezing the entire northlands. A great evil lies dormant in a lowland volcano south of here. A winter freeze would unlock it, or so the flameskull claimed. As the last knight of his order, he knights each of the PCs, and teaches them the ritual they need to open the seal and retrieve the Sun’s Sliver. He then gives them these final words of warning. The seal is not the only thing protecting the Sun’s Sliver. A mighty invoker bound an angel of prophecy in with the artifact. He must be defeated before you can gain the Sun’s Sliver. Features of the Area Illumination: None. Smashed Sarcophagi: The sarcophagi once held the undead remains of knights sharing Sir Keegan’s curse, but the flameskull and the demons have toppled them, smashed them, and left bits of the skeletons’ undead remains scattered on the floor, creating squares of difficult terrain. Smashed Altars: The two altars that used to stand in the inner alcoves have also been smashed by the demons. What is left of them constitutes difficult terrain.

Winter of the Witch 41 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Glabrezu Level 23 Elite Brute Huge elemental humanoid (demon) XP 10,200 Initiative +14 Senses Perception +18; truesight 6 HP 520; Bloodied 260; see also arcane fury AC 39; Fortitude 42, Reflex 37, Will 37 Resist 20 variable (3/encounter; see glossary) Saving Throws +2 Speed 8, fly 8 Action Points 1 m Pincer Claw (standard; at-will) Reach 3; +26 vs. AC; 2d8 + 8 damage. M Double Attack (standard; at-will) The glabrezu makes two pincer claw attacks. If both claws hit the same target, the target is grabbed (until escape) if the glabrezu so chooses. R Abyssal Bolt (minor; at-will) Ranged 10; +24 vs. Reflex; 3d4 + 7 damage. C Blasphemous Word (minor; encounter) ✦ Psychic Close burst 5; targets enemies; +24 vs. Will; 1d12 + 7 psychic damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the glabrezu’s next turn. C Chaos Word (minor; recharge ⚅ ) Close burst 5; targets enemies; +24 vs. Fortitude; 1d12 + 7 damage. This damage bypasses all resistances. Arcane Fury (free, when first bloodied; encounter) The glabrezu teleports 8 squares, recharges its blasphemous word and chaos word powers, and makes an abyssal bolt, blasphemous word, or chaos word attack. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Abyssal, Common Skills Arcana +23, Bluff +19, Intimidate +19 Str 26 (+19) Dex 17 (+14) Wis 14 (+13) Con 20 (+16) Int 24 (+18) Cha 16 (+14) Marilith Level 24 Elite Skirmisher Large elemental humanoid (demon) XP 12,100 Initiative +22 Senses Perception +21; darkvision HP 440; Bloodied 220 AC 38 (42 when using shroud of steel); Fortitude 36, Reflex 35, Will 33 Resist 20 variable (3/encounter; see glossary) Saving Throws +2 Speed 8 Action Points 1 m Scimitar (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Reach 2; +29 vs. AC; 2d10 + 9 damage (crit 6d10 + 29). M Hacking Blades (free, when an adjacent enemy misses the marilith with a melee attack; at-will) ✦ Weapon The marilith makes a scimitar attack against the enemy. M Shroud of Steel (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The marilith makes two scimitar attacks and uses its other scimitars to parry incoming attacks, gaining a +4 bonus (+1 per scimitar) to AC until the start of its next turn. M Weapon Dance (standard; recharges when first bloodied) ✦ Weapon The marilith makes six scimitar attacks. Each time it hits, the marilith shifts 1 square. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Abyssal Skills Bluff +23, Insight +21, Intimidate +23, Stealth +25 Str 28 (+21) Dex 26 (+20) Wis 19 (+16) Con 20 (+17) Int 14 (+14) Cha 22 (+18) Equipment 6 scimitars

Winter of the Witch 42 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 SC2: FINDING C2: FINDING VEIRA RIMEFIRE EIRA RIMEFIRE Encounter Level 24 (12,100 XP) Setup Once the PCs reach Gloomwrought and start looking for Veira, start the skill challenge. Finding Veira Rimefi re Level 24 Skill Challenge XP 12,100 The search for Veira Rimfire takes you to almost every corner of Gloomwrought. The PCs spend time looking for more information about Veira. Complexity 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills Streetwise Other Skills Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, or Perception Victory The PCs find out that Veira Rimefire was a lesser wizard with no link to the problems of the mortal world. They’ve been tricked by the undead knight outside of the Keep on the Shadowfell. Defeat The PCs are told that they can find Veira Rimefire in the Blackearth Cemetery. See the section on that cemetery below. It takes two full days to reach the remote cemetery, and two days to come back by the same method. Special Finding Veira is an arduous trial. The usually the PCs can only gain one success a day. If the PCs take six days or less to complete the skills challenge (success or failure) they will still have enough time to return to the Keep on the Shadowfell, gain important information from the remains of Sir Keegan by means of a Speak with Dead ritual, and make it to the Monastery of St. Alabat before Orcus’s agents open the seal and take the Sun’s Sliver. If it takes them more than six day, the Sun’s Sliver is lost and they will have to confront Koliada without it. Streetwise DC 24 (1 success, maximum 6 successes, no more than 1 each day). The first few successes lead the PCs to people who may know of Vox’s whereabouts. Those initial leads haven’t seen Vox in many years, and don’t remember her being particularly powerful, but have information as to where the PCs can continue their search for the wizard. The last success leads the PCs to the person who killed Vox—a tiefling paladin of the Raven Queen named Wrath. He tells the PCs that Vox was nothing more than a petty criminal that he brought to justice when Vox tried to rob a pilgrimage. He is sure that Vox could not be the Winter Witch or a creature causing so much trouble in the world. Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, or Perception DC 27 (0 successes) With a failed Streetwise check, each of these skill checks can be tried once by the PC to turn the failed check into a success. Through keen insight, careful negotiation, finding your way through rough areas to a source that’s willing to talk, the PC finds a lead that assists them in discovering more information about Veira. Finding Veira Rimefire Level 24 Expanding the Skill Challenge The skill challenge given above is a very general abstraction of events as the PCs search for Veira in Gloomwrought. It’s meant to be played quickly. If you want this to become an extended stay in the village, and create a side mission or mini-adventure, you might want to expand the skill challenge out so that each one is part of a small roleplaying encounter that could be part of other encounters you design.

Winter of the Witch 43 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 G1: THE CEMETERY 1: THE CEMETERY Encounter Level 23 (25,500 XP) Setup 1 desecration When the PCs try to dig up the grave for further clues, read the following: The ground rumbles, and the remains of those interred issue forth violently from the black dirt of the cemetery. The earth and corpses coalesce into an animate amalgamation. Once in its vaguely human form, an unnatural voice rasps from the strange maw that uses the rib bones for its teeth. “Death to desecrators,” it says as it advances toward you. Tactics As a relatively simple encounter, the fight has no encounter map. The desecration’s goal is simple: to punish those who desecrated its graveyard. It typically lashes out with its unholy smite and double attack, reserving its mouth of darkness power for pesky strikers. It continue its assault until destroyed, following the PCs into the bog if need be. Features of the Area Illumination: The area’s illumination depends on the time of day. Desecration Level 23 Solo Controller Gargantuan natural animate (earth, undead) XP 25,500 Initiative +14 Senses Perception +14; darkvision Aura of Malevolence (Fear) aura 10; any enemy within the aura that attacks with a radiant power takes a –2 penalty to the attack roll. HP 1,075; Bloodied 538; see also dark plague and second wind AC 39; Fortitude 38, Reflex 33, Will 37 Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 10 radiant Saving Throws +5 Speed 8 Action Points 2 m Unholy Smite (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic Reach 4; +28 vs. AC; 3d6 + 15 necrotic damage, and ongoing 15 necrotic damage (save ends). M Double Attack (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic The desecration makes two unholy smite attacks. M Mouth of Darkness (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic Reach 4; +26 vs. Reflex; 2d12 + 15 necrotic damage, and the target is grabbed. C Dark Plague (when first bloodied and again when the desecration is reduced to 0 hit points) ✦ Necrotic Close burst 20; targets enemies; +24 vs. Fortitude; the target is weakened (save ends). In addition, the target loses a healing surge. Miss: Half damage, and the target is weakened until the end of its next turn. The target does not lose a healing surge. Rejuvenation A desecration rises at full hit points one day after it has been destroyed. Only a quest destroys the creature completely, preventing it from using the rejuvenation power. Second Wind (standard; encounter) ✦ Healing The desecration spends a healing surge and regains 269 hit points. The desecration gains a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of its next turn. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages — Str 26 (+19) Dex 16 (+14) Wis 16 (+14) Con 23 (+17) Int 10 (+11) Cha 24 (+18)

Winter of the Witch January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 44 M1: DEATHWATCH 1: DEATHWATCH AT RAVENSROOST T RAVENSROOST Encounter Level 26 (46,000 XP) Setup 1 death titan (G) 2 dread wraiths (W) 1 phane (P) The PCs enter this area by way of a long and winding mountain trail that winds its way up to the ruins. At the end of the train, just shy of the ruins, is a black stone bridge that is somewhat obscured by mists creeping up from the chasm it spans. When the PCs approach the bridge, read: A black stone bridge stretches across a chasm and into the mists that swirl up from the breach. Just beyond, the silhouette of the broken monastery peeks through the mist. The bridge is mostly unadorned, but a pair of large ravenshaped statues crowns the bridge’s abutments at this end at least. Atop the right-hand statue, a real raven—foreboding and impossibly black with glowing red eyes—is perched. The mists diffuse and obscure the light somewhat. Beyond it a group of creatures serving the sorrowsworn Morthalat—a death titan, dread wraiths, and a phane—stand guard diligently, silent as the grave. The ravens atop the abutments are shadowravens also in the service of Morthalat—part of the shadow raven swarms that perch inside the ruined monastery. These ravens are here to serve as lookouts for activity coming across the bridge (though they’re not particularly observant since their passive Perception is 16). At the first sight of the PCs, they fly toward the monastery, cawing loudly, which sets Morthalat’s underlings in motion (see “Tactics,” below) and, if at least one of the ravens makes it into the monastery, it ultimately warns Morthalat that interlopers approach. Tactics Unless the PCs can successfully escape the notice of the shadowravens and sneak across the bridge (the phane’s passive Perception is 25), the death titan moves up to cut off the path off the bridge, but stops short of squeezing onto it. The dread wraiths dart out of the conifer copses and harry the PCs on the bridge or those who are using flight to bypass the giant’s choke point. The phane keeps its distance for as long as the death titan is keeping the PCs at bay. It shoots its wizening ray at defenders engaged with the death titan, controllers, and leaders in that order of priority. The goal of these creatures is to stop the PCs from interrupting Morthalat’s work within the monastery, and they purse that goal to the death. Shadowraven Initiative +12, Perception +6 HP 1; missed attack never damage a shadowraven AC 39, Fort 37, Reflex 30, Will 16; Speed 2, 12 fly (hover). Death Titan (T) Level 25 Elite Brute Huge shadow humanoid (giant) XP 14,000 Initiative +18 Senses Perception +20; darkvision Soulburner aura 5; enemies in the aura take a –2 penalty to attack rolls and defenses; a creature that dies within the aura bestows one soul shard to the death titan (see soul shroud). HP 574; Bloodied 287 AC 39; Fortitude 42, Reflex 38, Will 35 Resist 30 necrotic Saving Throws +2 Speed 8 Action Points 1 m Greataxe (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Reach 3; +28 vs. AC; 2d8 + 10 damage (crit 6d8 + 26). M Double Attack (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The death titan makes two greataxe attacks. R Soul Devourer (standard; recharge ⚅ ) ✦ Necrotic Ranged 5; +28 vs. Fortitude; the target loses a healing surge, and the death titan’s soul shroud gains one soul shard. A target without healing surges takes damage equal to half its total hit points. C Soulfire Burst (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic Close burst 1; +26 vs. Reflex; 2d12 + 6 necrotic damage. The death titan must expend one soul shard to use this power. Consume Soul Shard (minor; at-will) ✦ Healing The death titan expends one soul shard and regains 20 hit points. Soul Shroud The soul shroud contains soul shards that swirl around the death titan to protect and empower it. At the beginning of an encounter, the soul shroud contains four soul shards. While the soul shroud is depleted of soul shards, the death titan takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls. Alignment Evil Languages Giant Skills Intimidate +20 Str 31 (+22) Dex 23 (+18) Wis 17 (+15) Con 27 (+20) Int 12 (+13) Cha 16 (+15) Equipment plate armor, greataxe

Winter of the Witch January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 45 Features of the Area Illumination: The lighting depends on the time of day. Bridge: This ancient bridge is not only physically sturdy, it is magically enhanced. It has the following statistics: AC 4; Fortitude 30; hp 400. Chasm: A frozen mountain river winds its way 150 feet (30 squares) below the bridge. Monastery’s Front Door: The door has been burst open, and it offers no real resistance to those seeking entrance to the inner ruins. Secret Door: The secret door is difficult to spot (Perception DC 27) and must either be burst through (AC/Reflex 4; Fortitude 24; hp 80) or opened with a DC 30 Thievery check. Busting down the door or failing the Thievery check by 5 or more rouses the two inert golems inside (see “St. Alabat’s Last Secret” above). Snow Drifts: The snow in the area is normal terrain; it is not deep enough to seriously impede movement. Trees: The trees are difficult and cover terrain.

Winter of the Witch November 2008 | DUNGEON 160 46 b er 2008 | DUNGEON 160 46 2 Dread Wraiths (W) Level 25 Lurker Large shadow humanoid (undead) XP 7,000 Initiative +25 Senses Perception +18; darkvision Shroud of Night aura 5; bright light in the aura is reduced to dim light, and dim light becomes darkness. HP 124; Bloodied 62; see also death strike Regeneration 20 (if the dread wraith takes radiant damage, regeneration is negated until the end of the wraith’s next turn) AC 37; Fortitude 33, Reflex 37, Will 37 Immune disease, fear, poison; Resist 30 necrotic, insubstantial; Vulnerable 15 radiant (see also regeneration above) Speed fly 10 (hover); phasing ; see also shadow glide m Dread Blade (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic Reach 2; +28 vs. Reflex; 2d10 + 9 necrotic damage, and the target is weakened (save ends). C Death Shriek (when reduced to 0 hit points) ✦ Psychic Close blast 3; targets enemies; +27 vs. Will; 4d6 + 9 psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends). Miss: Half damage, and the target is not dazed. Combat Advantage ✦ Necrotic The dread wraith deals an extra 3d6 necrotic damage against any target it has combat advantage against. Shadow Glide (move; encounter) The dread wraith shifts 6 squares. Spawn Wraith Any humanoid killed by a dread wraith rises as a freewilled dread wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith. Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common Skills Stealth +26 Str 18 (+16) Dex 28 (+21) Wis 12 (+13) Con 20 (+17) Int 14 (+14) Cha 28 (+21) Phane (P) Level 26 Elite Controller Large immortal magical beast XP 18,000 Initiative +23 Senses Perception +25; darkvision HP 478; Bloodied 239 AC 41; Fortitude 38, Reflex 41, Will 38 Resist insubstantial Saving Throws +2 Speed 10, fly 10 Action Points 1 m Temporal Touch (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +29 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 10 damage, and the target is slowed until the end of the phane’s next turn. The phane shifts 4 squares before or after making this attack. R Wizening Ray (standard; at-will) Ranged 10; +29 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 9 damage, and the target is dazed and weakened (save ends both). Aftereffect: The target is weakened (save ends). The target appears elderly until the effects of the wizening ray end. C Wizening Tempest (standard, usable only while bloodied; at-will) Close burst 1; phanes are immune; +29 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 10 damage, and the target is stunned (save ends). Aftereffect: The target is dazed and weakened (save ends both). The target appears elderly until the effects of the wizening tempest end. Temporal Fugue (minor; at-will) By moving backward and forward in time, a phane can remove one effect afflicting it. Alignment Unaligned Languages Supernal Str 24 (+20) Dex 30 (+23) Wis 25 (+20) Con 23 (+19) Int 28 (+22) Cha 22 (+19)

Winter of the Witch 47 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 M2: MORTHALAT’S 2: MORTHALAT’S ENDGAME Encounter Level 26 (52,228 XP) Setup Morthalat, shadowsworn deathlord (M) 3 shadowraven swarms (S) 6 tomb guardian thralls (T) As the PCs enter the area, the forces of Orcus are on the verge of victory. Even before they see what’s going on here, they hear the strange whirling buzz of the Engine of Lum. When the full area comes into the PCs’ view, read the following: Down the stairs, some 80 feet below, is a collapsed section of the monastery. At the far end of it, covering a large section of the floor, is a gargantuan seal made of stone and gold and etched with glowing purple Supernal runes. At the far end of the room is a strange machine—a large blackish purple crystal lying on its sides. Electric blue energy shoots from the crystal toward a series of four pylons positioned symmetrically around the seal. Held up off the ground by ornate legs of matte black metal, the crystal is studded here and there with plates of the same matte black metal, which is adorned with knobs, buttons, switches, gyroscopes, levers, and other whirling devices. A bizarre winged humanoid, looking something like a mix of demon and undead, anxiously inspects the strange control patterns on the machine. The arcane engine shoots out toward the tip of the crystal and toward a pylon made up of the strange same metal and a lesser crystal. From there, the energy swirls around the pylon before splitting into two streams, each shooting to a similar pylon beyond. The energy from those two meets again at a fourth pylon that sits opposite the first in the group encircling the seal. After weeks of frustration, Morthalat is ecstatic that he has finally found the right settings on the outlandish and complicated Engine of Lum to break the tricky ward that stands between him and the Sun’s Sliver. He becomes enraged when he finds that a group of powerful PCs enters to threaten him. When Morthalat sees the PCs, read the following: “Foolish and puny creatures of this world, do not interfere with the work of Orcus, or your bones will adorn the walls of Everlost.” Development If the PCs don’t disrupt the Engine of Lum, it opens the seal on its seventh turn in the encounter, and Remliel bursts out of the ward and joins the fray (see tactical encounter “M3: Remliel,” below). If the PCs disrupt the Engine of Lum, they can open the seal by using the ritual Sir Keegan gave them. These are the only two ways to open the seal. If defeated and captured, Morthalat’s bluster turns to a craven need to survive at any costs. He tells the PCs all he knows, including the reason for the Blood Lord’s desire to obtain the Sun’s Sliver. “In the southland there is a crater lake atop a still active volcano, and on that lake, there is an island with a bubbling volcanic spring. What few know is that an ancient primordial is trapped under the lake. If that bubbling spring is ever completely frozen over by winter’s chill—cold spells, prayers, and invocations will not do—the primordial trapped there will be freed. Orcus has made a deal with the Winter Witch—if he captures and corrupts the Sun’s Sliver, she’ll push winter farther southward toward Smoking Lake. While Orcus’s desire to free the primordial bound in the Smoking Lake is beyond the scope of this adventure, it could provide an interesting adventure of your own design! The Engine of Lum Though an artifact in its own right, and one of the many creations of the legendary Lum the Mad, for the purposes of this adventure the Engine of Lum is presented as a piece of active terrain, with the following rules. Engine of Lum Initiative +22 On Its Turn most of the artifact’s power is focused on breaking down the seal of Remliel’s defenses. After 7 turns it completes its task. HP 299; Bloodied 148 AC 39; Fortitude 37, Reflex 39, Will 36 C Eldritch Feedback (free action, when the engine or the pylons are attacked, or an attempt to disable the device with a Thievery check fails by 5 or more) Close burst 3 center on a square adjacent to the triggering creature; +33 vs. Reflex; 4d6 +8 lightning damage, and the target is stunned until the end of its next turn. Countermeasures Thievery (standard action): A 4 success before 3 failure skill challenge shuts down the device or a pylon, disrupting the Engine. Arcana (standard action): A 4 success before 3 failure skill challenge shuts down the machine by manipulating its strange controls on the main engine. If you want, you can give out the Engine of Lum as treasure, but this strange and fickle artifact does not give out its secrets easily (and it has many) and figuring out what it can do and how to work the machine should be its own epic quest.

Winter of the Witch 48 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Features of the Area Illumination: The lighting in the area depends partially upon the time of day (since these are ruins, the buildings are not fully intact). Rubble: The rubble in this area is difficult terrain. Large Debris Pieces: A number of large pieces of collapsed debris are here. They are typically 20 feet tall and serve as blocking terrain only for those who are not 5 or more squares above them. Stairs: The stairs are steep. It costs 2 squares to go up the stairs, but only 1 square to go down the stairs. Snow Drifts: The snow in the area is normal terrain; it is not deep enough to seriously impede movement. Tactics When the tomb guardian thrall at the top of the stairs spots the PCs, it makes enough commotion to warn its fellow farther down the stairs, and that warning then spreads to the others. The group clamors up the stairs to confront the threat, aided by the shadowraven swarms perched among rocks in the area’s periphery. Morthalat does not enter combat at first. He hangs back to protect the Engine of Lum. He knows he is close to breaking the seal, and he wants to see the job through. If the PCs approach the machine, he flies over the seal and the energy produced by the Engine to confront the PCs, using his reap and fade power to harry their approach.

Winter of the Witch 49 January 2009 | DUNGEON 162 Morthalat (M) Level 28 Lurker (Leader) Sorrowsworn Deathlord Large shadow humanoid XP 13,000 Initiative +31 Senses Perception +26; darkvision Mournful Whispers aura 1; any enemy that starts its turn in the aura is dazed until the start of its next turn. HP 204; Bloodied 102 AC 42; Fortitude 38, Reflex 41, Will 38 Speed 8, fly 10 (hover); phasing m Dark Scythe (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic, Psychic, Weapon Reach 2; +32 vs. AC; 4d10 + 9 necrotic and psychic damage, and the target is weakened until the end of the sorrowsworn deathlord’s next turn. M Reap and Fade (standard; recharge ⚃ ⚄ ⚅ ) ✦ Necrotic, Psychic, Teleportation The sorrowsworn deathlord makes a dark scythe attack, teleports 10 squares, and turns insubstantial until the start of its next turn. Bleak Visage ✦ Fear Melee and ranged attacks made against the sorrowsworn deathlord take a –2 penalty to the attack roll. Alignment Unaligned Languages Common Skills Insight +26, Stealth +32 Str 28 (+23) Dex 36 (+27) Wis 24 (+21) Con 30 (+24) Int 24 (+21) Cha 30 (+24) Equipment robes, scythe 3 Shadowraven Swarms (S) Level 27 Brute Medium shadow beast (swarm) XP 11,000 Initiative +20 Senses Perception +14; darkvision Swarm Attack aura 1; the shadowraven swarm makes a basic attack as a free action against each enemy that begins its turn in the aura. HP 296; Bloodied 148 AC 39; Fortitude 37, Reflex 39, Will 36 Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks; Vulnerable 10 against close and area attacks Speed 2, fly 12 (hover) m Swarm of Talons (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic +30 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 4 damage plus 1d8 necrotic damage. M Murder’s Wrath (standard, usable only while bloodied; encounter) The shadowraven swarm shifts up to 6 squares and can move through enemy-occupied squares as it moves. It makes a melee basic attack against any creature whose space it enters. The swarm cannot attack a target more than once in this fashion, and it must end its movement in an unoccupied square. Alignment Unaligned Languages — Str 20 (+18) Dex 24 (+20) Wis 12 (+14) Con 16 (+16) Int 2 (+9) Cha 18 (+17) 6 Tomb Guardian Thralls (T) Level 22 Minion Medium natural animate (undead) XP1,038 Initiative +19 Senses Perception +15; darkvision HP 1; a missed attack never damage a minion AC 34; Fortitude 33, Reflex 34, Will 32 Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant Speed 8 m Twin Scimitar Strike (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal tomb guardian makes two scimitar attacks against the same target: +25 vs. AC; 5 damage (7 damage on a crit). This also holds true for opportunity attacks. M Cascade of Steel (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal tomb guardian makes two twin scimitar strike attacks (four scimitar attacks total). M Sudden Strike (immediate reaction, when an adjacent enemy shifts; at-will) ✦ Weapon The skeletal tomb guardian makes a melee basic attack against the enemy. Alignment Unaligned Languages — Str 26 (+19) Dex 27 (+19) Wis 19 (+15) Con 24 (+18) Int 3 (+7) Cha 3 (+7) Equipment 4 scimitars

Winter of the Witch Winter of the Witch Winter of the Witch 50 November 2008 | DUNGEON 160 M3: REMLIEL 3: REMLIEL Encounter Level 23 (25,500 XP) Setup Remliel, Angel of Prophecy This encounter occurs either when the Engine of Lum destroys the last wards of the seal of Remliel or when the PC uses the ritual given to them by Sir Keegan to lower the wards. When this happens, an angel of prophecy, Remliel, bursts from the ward to confront those who dared break it. When this happens, read the following: The violet runes on the seal glow in intensity, and then flicker out. With a sharp cracking sound, fissures start to form on the stone and gold of the seal. The ground rumbles as the seal blasts out in all directions, as a huge angelic form armed with a pair of icy katars bursts from the seal. If the Engine of Lum freed the angel, instead of using Remliel’s initiative, just place him in the initiative right after the Engine’s turn. He bursts out from the seal as a free action, and when he does, the shock of the egress makes the following close burst attack from the seal: Remliel ends his move 12 squares (60 feet) above the seal, spends the rest of his turn assessing the situation, and says in Common: “Mortals, look upon me and despair. Though it was hoped that this day would never come, prophecy also foretold it must. Know that the light that lies below can be removed only over my lifeless form. Only through this trial by combat can I give up the Sun’s Sliver.” Tactics Remliel begins his assault by flying down to striking distance of the strongest or most menacing combatant. If Morthalat is still on the field, he begins with the sorrowsworn. Remliel starts by placing his mark of prophecy on the first target he engages, and then he uses his katar death dance to take care of multiple combatants. He then spends an action point to repeat the katar death dance during his first turn in combat. Once he is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, the angel plays dead (Bluff +19 against the PCs’ passive Insight each round) for as long as he can to regain strength and renew his duty. Development Once the PCs defeat Remliel, they find the Sun’s Sliver at the bottom of the 50-foot-deep pit that the seal once covered. Features of the Area Illumination: The lighting in the area depends partially upon the time of day (since these are ruins, the buildings are not fully intact). C Blast of the Broke Seal (free, when Remliel bursts forth from the seal; encounter) ✦ Thunder Close burst 5; +26 vs. Fortitude; 3d6 + 9 thunder damage, and the target is pushed 3 squares and knocked prone. Remliel, Level 23 Solo Skirmisher Angel of Prophecy Huge immortal humanoid (angel) XP 4,800 Initiative +20 Senses Perception +23 Angelic Presence Attacks against Remliel take a –2 penalty until Remliel is bloodied. HP 981; Bloodied 490; see also, prophecy of rebirth. AC 40; Fortitude 38, Reflex 37, Will 37 Immune disease, fear; Resist 15 thunder, 15 cold, 15 radiant Saving Throws +5 Speed 8, fly 12 (hover) Action Points 2 m Katar (standard; at-will) ✦ Cold, Radiant, Weapon Reach 3; +28 vs. AC; 1d10 + 8 damage plus 2d8 cold and radiant damage (crit 18 + 1d10 damage plus 16 cold and radiant damage). M Katar Death Dance (standard; at-will) ✦ Cold, Radiant, Weapon Remliel can make four katar against different enemies. After each attack Remliel makes (hit or miss), he can shift 2 squares. M Mark of Prophecy (minor; at-will) Reach 3; +26 vs. Will; the target is under the effects of Remliel’s mark of prophecy. Remliel can only have one creature under the effects of a mark of prophecy at time. The mark of prophecy has the following effects: the target is marked by Remliel, and while marked and within sight of Remliel, when the target hits Remliel, the angel can force it to reroll the attack at a –2 penalty. Also, once on each of his turns as a free action, if Remliel misses the target with a melee attack, the angel can reroll that attack. C Word of Prophecy (free, when first bloodied; encounter) ✦ Thunder, Fear Close burst 3; +23 vs. Will; 3d8 + 9 thunder damage, and the target is pushed 3 squares and takes ongoing 10 psychic and is slowed (save ends both). Prophecy of Rebirth The first time each day that Remliel is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, he gains regeneration 10 until he regains hit points equal to his bloodied amount or is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points again, whichever comes first. Threatening Reach Remliel can make opportunity attacks against all enemies within his reach (3 squares). Alignment Any Languages Supernal Skills Acrobatics + 23, Insight +23, Intimidate +24 Str 29 (+20) Dex 24 (+18) Wis 25 (+18) Con 26 (+19) Int 19 (+15) Cha 27 -(+19) Equipment plate armor, 2 katars